For this Sunday’s Arts and Leisure section, I profiled John Mayer, the 39-year-old singer, songwriter and guitar virtuoso, who also happens to be a prodigious talker — for better or worse. In 2010, a run of ill-advised interviews changed the course of his career as both a musician and a celebrity.

“Only recently do I make decisions about putting a record or a video out that aren’t saddled with guilt,” he said this month in Los Angeles. “I feel like I have a) done the work and b) been out long enough so that people can believe I’ve done the work.” He added: “It took me five years to go, ‘O.K., come on, let’s go back to the party. You’re not going to make a fool of yourself.’”

As Mr. Mayer prepped for the release next month of his new album, “The Search for Everything,” which he hopes will be return to the pop mainstream, I trailed him between the recording studio and a shoot for a music video, a frenetic four days capped by an additional three-hour interview over dinner. Below are some additional edited excerpts from our hours of conversation. (You can read the full story here.)

On the lasting impact of those controversial interviews:

“Your No. 1 Google result is a certain thing, but you’ve got to do something bigger than that to knock it off of first place. For me, when I was at my most popular, I maligned myself. It’s a very interesting thing because if, when you mellow out in your life, it’s the wrong time ... I think a lot of people’s last impression of me is outdated.