There was something that was very manly about having the strength and having the courage to sing about love and romance. And I don't know what happened in our world where that was turned into being soft, because I don't think it's soft at all.

When grandpa was ill and could've died, I would have swapped all my record sales so he could get well. He is the reason I am a singer. He was my best friend growing up.

I brought in producer Johan Carlsson [Ariana Grande, One Direction, Flo Rida] and asked, "Can you make this better?" And he did.

I struggled more with my identity. Let's be honest - early on in my first records, I didn't have the power to tell David Foster or other producers what to do.

I'm not talking about just Donald Trump's politics - it's what he's brought up. It's a real conversation. We're just people trying to fall in love as nations and human beings. We need therapy, man. The world does.

The fact that there's a more open discussion about everything from feminism to racism ... I look at my two boys ... this is their future I'm talking about. When I'll be long gone, it'll be them and their kids. I know that sometimes the darkest times are followed by the lightest. Sometimes bad things have to happen for good things to happen. At the very worst, we're having very open discussions, discussions about things we didn't even know f-king existed. I talk to my friends about it and they are absolutely shocked. They didn't even know.

Every time a new rock singer comes out they don't say, 'Are you the new John Lennon?' Every time a new rapper comes out, it's not, 'Are you the new Dre?' I am never sure why this sort of genre, the categorization is so strong. I have not earned the right to be called the young Sinatra, but give me time.