He’s one of the key architects of modern pop music who’s written smashes for everyone from Justin Bieber to Jungkook to Miley to Eminem to Maroon 5, while simultaneously launching a successful solo career (two full-lengths, four mixtapes). But at the height of his solo fame, the Long Island native took stock of his situation and his label contract and dipped, deciding to spend his most recent years writing for others. It’s been seven years since his second album Glory Sound Prep, and as long since we had him in the studio.

Finally he’s back with a new, third record Father Figure, that pulls as much from legends like J Dilla, as his own canny ear for melody and cadence. He talks about why he stepped away for so long, the impact of becoming a father to three boys, the brass tacks of being a songwriter, and why he’s back and doing it on his own terms with his label Beautiful Mind Records. We dive into his new album collabs with Pharrell Williams and Luke Combs, buying himself out of his contract, his views on success and so much more.

Plus he plays us the initial demos — with his vocals on it — for songs like ‘Ghost’ and ‘Holy’ which went on to be hits for Justin Bieber, and what it was like to work with Jungkook on ‘Seven’ featuring Latto which broke the record for the fastest song in history to surpass one billion streams on Spotify.

Stream "Why" ft. Luke combs

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