I\u2019ve been listening to Maroon 5 for ten years now; Songs About Jane <\/i>became a smash hit when I was fourteen years old, and they\u2019ve been a consistent radio staple ever since. A lot has changed for me in those years, although I can\u2019t say the same for Maroon 5\u2019s sound. V,<\/i> their fifth album, is a blend of upbeat, catchy pop and a few ballads thrown in for good measure \u2013 just like every other M5 release. And yet their ability to consistently churn out infectious songs that stick to the radio like glue isn\u2019t really a surprise. Levine is a born frontman with a singular voice, and he\u2019s backed by an equally strong crew (consisting of James Valentine on guitar, bassist Mickey Madden, drummer Matt Flynn, and Jesse Carmichael, who returned after sitting out 2012\u2019s Overexposed<\/i>. They\u2019ve also got Max Martin, the Swedish songsmith behind some of pop\u2019s greatest hits, at the helm on production here. <\/p>\n
V <\/i>launches out with \u201cMaps,\u201d which has been omnipresent on radio for the past summer and peaked at number six on the Billboard Top 10. It\u2019s infectious pop as M5 does best, accented by Valentine\u2019s trilling guitar and an all-out, drum-pounding chorus that soars to the rafters. Levine\u2019s enveloping falsetto is gorgeous as always, tricked out with Ryan Tedder\u2019s clean, crisp production. It moves seamlessly into \u201cAnimals,\u201d the disc\u2019s latest single. While the lyrics veer into silliness in Levine\u2019s attempt to sound seductive, it still manages to hold up after the repeated listen it demands. Plus, lest I accuse the band of phoning it in just yet, Levine unleashes a positively epic howl near the end of the song that shows he\u2019s still having fun with it all. <\/p>\n
Next up is \u201cIt Was Always You,\u201d which provides a nice tonal break after the one-two pop punch of the opener. It unfolds with a dreamy looseness, reminiscent of some of the material on 2010\u2019s Hands All Over <\/i>and Overexposed<\/i>. The lyrics leave something to be desired, but the slow-rising staccato beats have a cool electronic flavor. Meanwhile, \u201cUnkiss Me\u201d is a swoony ballad, simple in sentiment and lovely in execution \u2013 it\u2019s a nice reminder that Maroon 5 can craft a tender love song. There\u2019s a sweet vulnerability to Levine\u2019s voice as he croons, \u201cDon\u2019t act like I mean nothing \/ But if you\u2019re gonna, well then you better \/ Unkiss me, untouch me.\u201d Simple in sentiment, lovely in execution, it\u2019s a nice reminder that Maroon 5 can craft a tender love song, even if it does veer close to boy-band territory at times.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
It\u2019s around this album midpoint that things start to get a little dicey for the M5 sound. The R&B infused \u201cSugar\u201d is a throwback to the band circa Songs About Jane, <\/i>but the lyrics are as lightweight and saccharine as cotton candy, and even Levine\u2019s omnipresent falsetto can\u2019t pull this one into memorability. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost if they exhausted all their energy on the first half of the album and then phoned it in for the rest. It\u2019s a hodgepodge of musical sins: \u201cLeaving California\u201d is pleasantly bland, \u201cIn Your Pocket\u201d is nearly nonsensical, and Levine forgot to write a chorus on \u201cFeelings\u201d and just chose to repeat the title for awhile (though the production is a silky smooth, almost disco-y affair that makes this song catchily seductive in spite of itself). Meanwhile, \u201cComing Back For You\u201d doesn\u2019t go anywhere in particular; I would\u2019ve rather seen it replaced by the lilting, strangely pretty cover of \u201cSex And Candy\u201d that features on the deluxe edition.<\/p>\n
Closer \u201cMy Heart Is Open\u201d is ostensibly a vehicle to promote the upcoming Levine\/Gwen Stefani collaboration on The Voice; <\/i>nonetheless, it\u2019s an enigmatic intersection between the dynamic pair. Backed by piano and swelling strings, Levine and Stefani\u2019s voices are a natural match and they flow together well to bring the disc to its end. So while Maroon 5 remains listenable as always, their latest effort is lacking in parts. It\u2019s something I\u2019ll always bemoan because I feel like all the raw material is there for the band to really craft something memorable and interesting beyond their pop stunners. Seeing them live seared it into my brain that they could rock. <\/i>It\u2019s a shame that V <\/i>doesn\u2019t even make that attempt.\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":32109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7018],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-43857","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-maroon-5","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43857","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=43857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43857"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}