Adam Levine and Maroon 5 certainly have come a long way since their debut album Songs About Jane debuted back in 2002. That album shot straight to the top of the charts and inevitably would go five times platinum and produced some of the most popular sing along songs of the year. Despite the success of Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 would make fans wait a full five years until they released their next album which was also a major success.
Fast forward to Tuesday, September 2nd, when Maroon 5’s latest album V was released. New York Times has offered some insight into this, Maroon 5’s fifth studio album:
“Not much has changed on V, which is full of songs that have been ironed flat of any real sentiment. The gleam of Mr. Levine’s voice is paramount, whether its singing about desperate passion or romantic skepticism.”-Jon Caramanica/ New York Times
For V, Levine and company relied on the magic that they found working with Max Martin and Benny Blanco, who helped with the production of the last Maroon 5 album, Overexposed. Adam Levine discussed the reason why the band chose to work with them again on V with the Killian Daily Herald :
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Honestly, it’s a huge relief for me, because for a long time it felt like making an album was this daunting task, and I had to be at the center of it. It wasn’t fun anymore.”
Adam would also tell the Herald that he chose to work with Dr. Luke, a songwriter who has helped pen hits for the likes of Katy Perry and Britney Spears. Perhaps, this was to bring a little bit of the old and mix in some new, fresh perspective on V. Dr. Luke co-wrote the single “Sugar” for the new Maroon 5 offering and here is what Adam had to say about that:
“The second I heard that song, I was totally blown away. It was a really cool opportunity to go in a direction that I’ve always wanted to go in — kind of bridging the gap between things that I love about soul and funk and Prince but also very poppy. I’d never been able to quite master that idea.”
Overall, V has been met with conservative praise over the last week.
What’s up next for Adam Levine, other than returning for his seventh stint on the hit singing competition show The Voice? Levine and the boys from Maroon 5 will embark on a world tour appropriately titled the Maroon 5 2015 World Tour, which consists of 27 U.S. dates and 10 European dates.
[Photo credits: Listal.com, starpulse.com and Spin Southwest ]
