John Mayer Talks Katy Perry At Oxford Union

Katy Perryspent her 29th birthday without boyfriendJohn Mayer on Friday (October 25), who was busy giving a speech at Oxford University.

While K-Pez celebrated alone in the US, John was in Oxford talking to students about everything from Botox (for his throat) to the state of the music industry, although it was clear Katy was never far from his thoughts.

His visit to Oxford got John reminiscing about his own university experience at Berklee College of Music in Boston and despite his academic audience, he revealed: “I started ditching class to write songs", before eventually dropping out because he felt he had already learnt enough to embark on his music career. “I remember thinking, I don’t need the instructions anymore.”

Mayer also spoke more generally about the music industry today, explaining that he grew up with the “golden era of ‘80s music” listening to bands like Genesis and The Police, which he compared with today’s artists, saying “it’s very rare nowadays to have a hit song also be musically complex”.

He also criticised the current obsession with No.1s. “This disk jockeying for 1, jockeying for real estate in people’s minds every single day, is highly impatient,” John said, revealing that when his last record, Paradise Valley, got reached second position, he was so proud he had a cake made with the No.2 on it. “I’ve never been upset over a chart position,” he stated.

But in case anyone though he might be criticising girlfriend Katy Perry – who ties with Rihanna for most No.1 hits on the US Billboard charts – he confirmed that he has “always loved pop music” and enjoyed working with Katy on their duet, Who You Love.

“I wouldn’t have brought her a song if I didn’t think it was good and great and she wouldn’t have said she would do it if she didn’t think it was going to be great,” he told the audience. “So it was a completely artistic transaction.”

As for the experience of collaborating with a girlfriend, he explained: “I think the power of the song protected me, certainly, I don’t know about her, from it being a little too cute.”

But ultimately John prefers his pop with a bit of blues and he’s happiest when combining the two.  “All the songs that I look at on the set-list every night and go ‘I can’t wait to play that’, those are the songs where the mix of the two is perfect.”

As for his relationship with Perry, John revealed that he tries to stay away from gossip magazines and websites.

“Celebrities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on security, then they get up every morning and they look at all this stuff online that makes them feel terrible and it’s like they got in, they got in over the fence,” said Mayer, who has graced the gossip mags on more than one occasion thanks to previous romances with Jennifer Anniston, Jessica Simpson and Taylor Swift.

Either way, Mayer confirmed that right now he’s perfectly happy both personally and professionally, saying: “For five years every month has been better than the last."

By Karen Yossman @mtvuknews