The year 2012 marks the ten-year anniversary of Maroon 5\u2019s debut album, the smash hit Songs About Jane. <\/i>A decade later, they\u2019re still at it, churning out some of the most reliable pop in the industry. Between Adam Levine\u2019s distinctive vocals (not to mention his star turn on \u201cThe Voice\u201d) and the band\u2019s knack for crafting artful pop-rock that still sounds fresh after the umpteenth radio rotation, Maroon 5 remains strangely likeable despite not having exhibited too much artistic growth over their career. <\/p>\n
On this disc, their fourth and the follow-up to 2010\u2019s underselling Hands All Over,<\/i> the group has pulled out all the stops to reclaim their top spot on the Billboard charts. They\u2019ve recruited top songwriters and producers in Max Martin, Ryan Tedder, and Benny Blanco, among others, while the disc\u2019s first singles feature collaborations with Christina Aguilera (the ubiquitous \u201cMoves Like Jagger\u201d) and rapper Wiz Khalifa (\u201cPayphone\u201d). According to the band, Overexposed <\/i>is their most \u201cpop\u201d record to date, shrugging off some of their rock flavor in favor of more immediate accessibility. And you can absolutely see this as the album unfolds: opener \u201cOne More Night\u201d \u2013 set to be the second single \u2013 is so slick that you can start singing to it before it\u2019s even halfway over. The lyrics, telling the tale of a toxic relationship, are minimal: \u201cSo I cross my heart and hope to die \/ That I\u2019ll only stay with you one more night,\u201d but with the song\u2019s reggae tinge and the energetic groove provided by Micky Madden\u2019s bass and James Valentine\u2019s vibrant guitar, it\u2019s impossible that this won\u2019t become a huge summer hit.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, lead single \u201cPayphone\u201d is still ineffable even if you\u2019ve heard it a thousand times (which is absolutely possible, considering how constantly this is played on Top 40 stations). It\u2019s perfectly melodic, mid-tempo pop, Levine\u2019s signature falsetto soaring on the chorus and an excellent intersection of plinking piano and heavy drums. Like much of Overexposed, <\/i>\u201cPayphone\u201d doesn\u2019t tread any new waters, but it manages to re-outfit what the band does so well.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
And yet, having just seen Maroon 5 live in Baltimore last month, I feel like it\u2019s such a shame that so little of the blistering, heavy guitar tone that was such a feature of their live set actually made it to the album. Tracks like \u201cDaylight\u201d and \u201cLove Somebody\u201d are likable enough, all rafter-reaching choruses and syncopated beats, but both sound like they were yanked off a OneRepublic album (probably owing to Ryan Tedder\u2019s production). Thankfully, Levine boasts one of the most unique voices in pop, and so, for better or worse, Overexposed <\/i>is absolutely Maroon 5.<\/p>\n
When they do take risks, it\u2019s fairly hit or miss. \u201cLucky Strike,\u201d which comes early in the album when the hits are still aplenty, has a remarkably cool energy to it and a fast-paced beat that won\u2019t be ignored. It\u2019s absolutely material for the third single. But then there are songs like \u201cSad\u201d or \u201cTickets\u201d that never quite hit home. \u201cSad\u201d is one of the few pure piano ballads that the band has released, and it\u2019s not really one of their stronger suits. Levine\u2019s crystal-pure vocals are wasted on a chorus that simply consists of \u201cI\u2019m so sad.\u201d And \u201cTickets\u201d takes all the sass of Songs About Jane <\/i>and drives it into the ground with this weird, techno-inspired cut. <\/p>\n
I was just a casual fan of Maroon 5 when I saw them live, but the sheer energy of their set as they churned out hit after hit, commanding the entire stadium to join in for a half hour rendition of \u201cShe Will Be Loved,\u201d made me go back and begin to appreciate just how seamless and charming most of their releases have been. Overexposed <\/i>is kind of a mixed bag; I\u2019d love to see more of what I know the band can do, but having this batch of summer-ready pop hits will tide me over until them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":31002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7018],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42684","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-maroon-5","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42684"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}