John Mayer says he hasn’t been a jerk in many years as Halsey shuts down dating rumors

John Mayer would like the world to stop living in the past when it comes to his reputation.

The singer appears on the cover of the latest edition of Billboard, where he opens up about the new singles he’s focusing on as well as what the magazine describes as “how he got a grip on fame.” Part of that has to do with what the public thought about him at a time we have to assume was circa his “Jessica Simpson sexual napalm” comments of yore.

(OK, yore was 2010.) “Some people still say, ‘That guy’s a d—.’ And I go, ‘Well, any of that data you’re working off of is really old.’ I mean, I can tell you for sure that I haven’t been a d— in many years,” he says. “That’s a really outdated take … I probably had a run in my life where I wasn’t aware that there was anything I couldn’t have. And it made a monster out of me. And there’s something very freeing about you can’t.” The cover story comes after John’s pal, Halsey, shut down rumors the two may be dating with this sarcastic but right-on-target tweet: “I just had a ground breaking idea.,” she wrote. “What if…we let female artists…have friends…without assuming that they are sleeping together?” she wrote. “I know I know. It’s like, completely ambitious but like, imagine if we like, tried?”