Demi Lovato Calls Working With John Mayer 'A Dream Come True'

Lovato — who earlier this year gushed about wanting her album Here We Go Again, out in July, to have a "John Mayer-ish" sound — managed to get the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter onboard for some of her new music.

"John Mayer's been a huge influence on me. His songwriting really inspires me," she told MTV News. "You hear music that has the same chord progression, but what he does, he changes it up. There's little things that make him stand out."

She didn't have to work very hard to convince Mayer to work with her, since he made the effort. "I guess he had heard I was a huge fan, and he sent me a letter," she explained. "Then we ended up writing together. And it was really great, 'cause he actually reached out to me, and it was like a dream come true."

That dream also meant getting a taste of Mayer's wit first-hand while working with him in the studio. "The process of the collaboration was actually really funny, because he's a really, really funny guy, and he talks a lot, so he'll go off on something. ... I had a great time. He taught me a lot about the business and gave me a lot of advice."

The recording and writing time together turned out to be mentoring sessions for the teen, who got to write some new songs with Mayer. "He had an idea, and he'd bring it in," she recalled. "He'd start writing lyrics and make it my own. It was really nice. One of the songs, he had written a lot on it, and we definitely wanted it to be a co-writing thing. So he was like, 'Take it home and finish it,' and I did, and he barely touched it. It was awesome. He really wanted it to be equal."

But Lovato's favorite part about collaborating with Mayer had to be the private concerts. "I go straight from watching that DVD ['Where the Light Is'] to watching him play my favorite songs in the studio for fun. It was right there," she said. "It was so cool."