"I've written a whole body of work that I'm incredibly proud of," he said about his quarter-century of hits. "I've achieved what every artist wants, which is that some of their work will outlive them. But there are other things I can do with my money and my ideas, without my being centre stage.
"There's very little you can do in pop music any more," he noted, saying his next work likely will be distributed freely on the Internet.
It's a sobering statement, and one that got me thinking: has the era of the great male pop star come and gone finally? Or is all hope for that corner of the market now pinned upon Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown?