In case there's any doubt that Mac left behind more than just a choice DUMBO flat when he returned to L.A. in June, or that his latest LP isn't simply a headstone for an old flame, the first words of The Divine Feminine are uttered by Ariana Grande. Since Mac and the high-ponied pop princess were spotted making out at a sushi spot a couple nights before, I've been told he won't speak on their status. But she's on the album, so he can't avoid questions about her entirely. So: How did this, um, collab happen?

"We work really well together," he says with a dopey smile, like he's answering the real query instead of the softball one. "She... I... we had a lot of fun in the studio. And I love... how incredible of a singer she is. Our writing chemistry is amazing. Our song came together so nicely and our voices sound so nice together... it's..." Nice? "Yeah. You'd expect to hear us sing together and go, 'She makes him sound like an idiot.'"

To be fair, Mac only sounds like an idiot—endearingly so—when he's talking about Grande. They're excellent crooning and cooing over the drunken West Coast funk of "My Favorite Part." It's unclear when they began dating, but they've been friends for years, locking lips (innocently) in the video for her first hit, "The Way", in 2013, and banking a bunch of demos around that time "before," as Mac says, "she was, like, the biggest."

A new question: Since music came between you and your ex, do you think it would work better, hypothetically, to be with someone who also makes music for a living?

"I treat work and love separately," Mac says, resolutely, before bending. "But that being part of what you do is amazing. I really enjoy creating music. And creating...love. I tried being this guy who goes around fucking a bunch of girls, but it's not me. I'm a lover. Sliding into DMs doesn't sound fun to me." I mention that I’m getting married in two months. "You are? Me too." He’s joking. But still.

Mac does tend to get really into things—he eventually reorders his absurd espresso, and explains total sobriety as "a new trip. I feel high all the time, so I'm gonna ride this one for a while." Plus, he likes change: "If I stay in one mindset or place for too long I get crazy." But his lust for challenge currently seems to be sated by singing ("That's my fun," he says), and there's plenty of natural wonder in California to keep him occupied (he saw his first meteor shower this month). He says his favorite thing about life right now is that he can lie down and fall asleep at the end of the day.