The 25-year-old Toronto singer The Weeknd, born Abel Tesfaye, is dominating speakerboxes this summer with “Can’t Feel My Face,” a stone-cold groove produced by pop wizard Max Martin that pairs a Michael Jackson-ish beat with Tesfaye’s otherworldly voice. The song’s impact has been instantaneous—I encountered dancing baristas at a coffee shop the day after the song came out—but if you sense something disturbing in the mix, maybe it’s because the lyric is basically one long cocaine euphemism.

Before he went on a tear through the pop charts (see also: “Earned It," from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack), The Weeknd was known for a trio of free mixtapes that were psychotically dark. And as you’ll read in our unedited email exchange below, Tesfaye compares his music to R-rated horror movies. But if you're paying close attention, you’ll find that all his shit is definitely NC-17.

If it seems strange that a horror singer would team up with Martin—a guy known for producing the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”—for a new album called Beauty Behind the Madness (out next Friday, August 28), maybe it’s best not to overthink it. One guy brings the slick pop perfection; the other shines a black light into the filthiest corners of the room. Here, in his third interview ever, The Weeknd and I email about press shyness, Ed Sheeran's battle rap skills, Kanye’s new collection for Adidas, and a very NC-17 vision Tesfaye had of Joe Dimaggio.

In 2013 you told Complex that you rarely do interviews because you “have nothing to say” and are “the most boring person to talk to.” Do you still feel that way? Why have you avoided talking about your music—and yourself—so far?

I think I really avoided questions because I felt uncomfortable. I get naturally uncomfortable when I’m put under a magnifying glass. I think when I said I had nothing interesting to talk about, it was just instinct, I was dodging the question. I think I’m a little less awkward now.

Are you considering being more open going forward?

A little bit I believe. I love trying new things.

There was a shocking level of honesty in the early mixtape lyrics. Can you be that honest now that you’re all over the radio?

All of my music is honest. When I write, I write about my surroundings. Sometimes it’s light and sometimes it gets very dark. With this album I’ve learned to balance them out and evolve my sound.

When you first came out, a lot of your music was about the girls and the drugs around you in Toronto. How are the girls and the drugs different now?

They’re not different. I’m just not in Toronto as often. I’ve been in LA a lot, so that should answer your question.

People have straight-up told me that your songs are too creepy for them—too dark, too druggy, too sexually explicit. How does that make you feel?

It makes me feel good. How much is too much? Some people love PG horror movies and some people love R rated horror movies.

Please tell me the story of a pivotal moment while writing or recording this album. The first one that comes to mind is great.

I wrote a song with Ed Sheeran that was kind of spontaneous. He was hosting the Much Music Awards in Toronto and I invited him, and pretty much the entire awards show, to my condo to party. It went on until about 5 in the morning but we didn’t write the song until that next day, so you can imagine how that night went. Ed also did a freestyle battle with Waka Flocka in my kitchen. That was pretty dope. Good times.