John Mayer gives thoughtful response to fan who asks if he's still a 'recovering ego addict'

John Mayer is a recovered ego addict.

The seven-time Grammy winner opened his Instagram Story up for questions, and according to a screenshot relayed by E!, one fan wanted to know if Mayer stills feels like a "recovering ego addict," which he referred to himself as during this 2015 interview with Ronan Farrow for TODAY. 

The short answer: No, he does not.

But as we know from his sprawling, record-breaking discography, Mayer is much more poetic than that.

"No, and I'll tell you why," the 43-year-old wrote back. "Your 20s and 30s are like the hours between 8pm and 11pm on a weekend night. You're kind of frantically hoping for the most validating plans to come through. Your 40s are like 11:30pm where you're like, 'hey, I would have been home anyway even if I had gone out.' The pressure is off."

Mayer still maintains the musical relevance and power he wielded in his 20s and 30s, though. Sob Rock, his latest studio album, became his record-breaking eighth No. 1 album on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart. The project, his first full-length body of work since The Search for Everything, in 2017, also hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

For more of Mayer's philosophical musings, watch his Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe from mid-July below.