Robin Thicke seemed as shocked by his split with Paula Patton as we were. He quickly began dedicating songs to her while performing live, telling the world he was trying to get his love of two decades and mother of his only son back. In a rare post-split interview, he said that they are much happier and this breakup is inspiring his new music.

"She loved it," Thicke told PEOPLE about his grand public gestures aimed at winning her back. "She thought it was the sweetest thing and very romantic, and I've always been a romantic guy that way."

He admitted that he chose to address her from the stage since "my music is very honest about what I'm going through and my songs are about my life. And my relationship with her was 21 years of my life, so I just thought it was important to me to let people know how much she means to me."

Okay, that is really romantic. Score one for R. Thicke.

While he did not further comment on their current status, he did say, "We're both doing well. We're both very happy right now – much happier."

Okay, so does he mean much happier since splitting and working through issues to get to a better, reconciled place or much happier after the split sunk in and the shock wore off? It's not quite clear and Thicke blurred the lines of clarity with his comments.

There is an upside to all of this. His new music is being informed by his personal issues. "Everything about this moment in my life – this amazing year I just had and what I'm going through personally – has actually ignited some of the best writing I've done in a long time," Thicke said. "Whatever everybody's wondering about, they're going to hear it all in the album."

Thicke's goals for the rest of 2014? "Just to be a great father and hopefully write some great music, put on some great shows and be a great friend to Paula," the singer said.

Hmm… Are Thicke and Patton on track to reunite? We can't quite tell.

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