For the first time in his life, Nick Jonas is all on his own. Since he was just 13 years old, Nick was one third of the Jonas Brothers, an actual band of boys who played their instruments and made young girls say things like "OMJ!"-a clever replacement for "OMG" meaning "Oh My Jonas!"-anytime they heard the brothers sing their biggest single, "Burnin' Up."

But after Nick and his two older brothers, Kevin and Joe, decided to call it quits, at least for now, last year, the youngest JoBro felt a little lost. "I think after I closed that chapter in my life I took some time for me to realize that I could keep going and do it my way," Jonas tells Radio.com, speaking by phone from Atlanta. "What I wanted was to try to evolve as an artist. To make music I'm really proud of. I really wanted to push myself, but I didn't want to jump into it."

Jonas was also well aware that the world isn't always so kind to teen stars who try to grow up. Fortunately, his fans seem on board with his new adult transformation. Especially if that transformation leads to more crotch-grabbing photo spreads like the one he did for Flaunt. Those risque photos had Iggy Azalea tweeting about the Nick Jonas "crush epidemic," which, for the record, is in full swing.

"It does take people time to sort of be educated on who you are now," he admits. "But, a lot of people have really responded. It's just amazing to be in this position now, at 22 years old, I've pretty much had a full career. Now, I get to sort of start all over and do it again."

Since Jonas is kicking off his solo journey with his new and very sexy self-titled album-and a new DirecTV show, Kingdom, where he gets to show off his abs playing an MMA fighter-we were curious about other 'firsts' in his life.

To be clear, even though he's admitted the purity ring is off, we did not ask about that first time. Instead we spoke to him about his first celebrity crush, the first rumor he remembers reading about himself and the very first time he met Demi Lovato.

First Teacher Who Inspired You: I think my dad is one of my biggest teachers. He's an amazing musician himself and inspired me in a lot of ways to be who I am now. You know, I feel like my biggest teachers were just people who saw me grow up. I was really lucky to be around some amazing people who pushed me.

The song "Teacher" was one of the last ones I added to the record. It sort of helped me build the sound of the record and figure out what all the pieces were. It's such a fun song, you have no choice but to get up and dance.

First Hip-Hop Artist You Remember Loving: I was really influenced by Kanye when I started discovering hip-hop. He just shows how creative hip-hop can be. And, obviously, he just pushes the envelope. He just does some amazing things. College Dropout was a big one for me, even 808s and Heartbreaks I love. Just great records. A couple of my favorites. I think the "Good Life" is my favorite and for 808s and Heartbreaks I think "Robocop."

First Celebrity Crush: Shania Twain was definitely my first celebrity crush. I love Shania Twain. I'm just a big fan of her music. I remember watching this concert DVD of her in Chicago, I think it was for like 120,000 people, I was just blown away by what an amazing performer she was and just the whole thing. I'm a big fan still. I got to go see her in Las Vegas; she's still really awesome.