Shawn Mendes

Favorite Shawn Mendes song? I really like "Ruin." I like the feel of that. I like the very first one. Like, when I heard "Stitches," I played that for everybody. I give myself one quick pat on the back, with an index finger, because I played that song, I was like: [high voice] that's a great song! And that was before Shawn was, like, the star that he is now, and rightfully so, damn it. But I remember playing it for people, going, like, [high voice] this song is a good song! It's a good song!

And now I feel like Shawn's in that zone where, he's what we call, ages nine to ninety-nine. Because if there's one way you want to keep your Instagram Live relevant, talk about a young pop star.

Yeah, I mean Shawn's just a better version of me in a lot of ways. He's like "John Mayer 2.0," without the weird software viruses. It's like I was a beta version of a celebrity and he's a better version of a celebrity than I ever was.

He's not as volatile. But I like where I've ended up, put it that way. Now that everything sort of flattened out and we've leveled out at cruising altitude, it's lovely.

ZL: What I love about your relationship with Shawn [Mendes] is that on paper it feels like a sort of, more of somebody who is uniquely inspired by you that you would then try to nurture and guide, but I know you actually have a deep friendship and there's a "bro" down there.

JM: He's remarkable. He's remarkable. That's all there is to it. I mean, he'll send me stuff he's working on and I'll send him stuff I'm working on. We don't really sugar coat it for each other. Sometimes we go, "cool." Sometimes we go, "now that's one!"

He's so honest, man. He really—you know who he reminds me of? He reminds me of George Harrison. In the sense that his spirit is immovable. In that it's his, and it's honest. And that's very George Harrison, to me. Like I remember seeing George Harrison on the Dick Cavett Show. Obviously not when it aired. And he's not pushed around by the excitement around him.