"With any trilogy," says John Mayer, "the third in the series blows it open."On Continuum the singer/songwriter/guitar slinger meets that challenge head-on. Mayer's third studio album follows the multi-platinum Room for Squares (2001) and Heavier Things (2003) and marks his first turn as producer. It is his most soulful, cohesive collection yet and he says it's no accident that this project is where all of his efforts, his potential, and his disparate influences fully come together.Having just announced a co-headlining tour with Sheryl Crow to help launch Continuum, Mayer is raring to start playing his new material for an audience. "This record is infinitely playable," he says. "I built so many corners into these songs I cannot wait to play them live."Ultimately, Continuum represents maturity, both musically and thematically, for John Mayer � a concept that he wasn't comfortable with until now. "A lot of these songs are about coming to terms with getting older," he says. "My generation was never told we were going to get older. We thought we were going to hear our names on 'Romper Room' for the rest of our lives. For a long time, I was really upset about getting older, worried that things were just going to level out."But then I realized that everyone around me was all getting older at the same time. We're all fighting it together, and we're always going to be those kids, the first really emotionally aware generation. When I realized that, I could relax about it a little bit. And I thought that maybe I can be the guy to sing about it."