Asked about recent comments in which he wouldn’t confirm whether or not he has been with another man, Jonas says, “It’s funny. I play a gay character on a TV show. Whether it’s me or the character, at the end of the day it’s still my body, it’s still telling the story. It’s the character and his journey, but it’s my body, my lips, my hands.” It frustrates him that some people think he’s exploiting the community for his own ends, dropping winking hints about his sexuality either way. “There’s always going to be negativity toward anything that is a positive effort toward change,” he says. “As a heterosexual male, [I am] open and comfortable about loving my fan base, gay or straight, because to me there is no difference, it is my fan base. Your sexual preference does not matter to me and it shouldn’t matter to anybody. I thought [the criticism] was kind of dumb, considering I play this gay character on a gritty show. There’s a gay sex scene. I kissed a man.

Nick Jonas dropped last year (a re-release of the album including the new single, “Levels,” came out in November 2015), with the aforementioned “Jealous,” “Chains,” and a batch of R&B–tinged ballads, including a collab with BFF Demi Lovato. When we start talking music, Jonas lights up. He’s now in the last stages of putting a new album together, which includes a surprising collaboration with Purity Ring’s Corin Roddick. After a year of professional growth and personal upheaval, Jonas is using the new record to document his evolution—emotionally, vocally, and instrumentally. “I think personal life and career have to kind of line up in the sense that my career changed so dramatically,” he says, “and then I think I had some catching up to do.”

The word “vulnerable” comes up a lot when he talks about the project. By that he means not just in the songs, but in his musicianship. “I play drums, guitar, keys. That’s a huge part of my artistry, and I’m going to make an effort to show more of that,” he says. He mentions new songs—“Chainsaw” about his breakup with Culpo and “Don’t Make Me Choose”—that he feels are showcasing this more vulnerable self. Most of the album was recorded at Jonas’ house in Mammoth, Calif., a place he considers therapeutic and that helped him after his breakup. He doesn’t hide the fact that the split is a large influence on the new songs. “Naturally I’m going to pull a lot from that,” he says. “Not even so much about that relationship in particular, but about my state of mind, who I want to be. I’m meeting new people, and what that has been like. Also, just as a general change in my life. This year has been kind of nuts.”