Deep Speculation On the Downfall of Maroon 5
Pop music leans on simplicity to create ear worms. You likely won’t recall a song like “Moves Like Jagger” for its lexical density.
Every Wednesday night for the past month, Alex, Drew, Lexi, and I embark on a journey to this hole-in-the-wall-bowling-alley-combination-bar for trivia. You’ve never met four people who know so much about pop culture and are contrastingly, horrible at trivia. Valentine’s Day was no exception - there’s a chance our server thought we were in a polyamorous relationship, as we all shared a bucket of miller high life and spinach artichoke dip.
Between each question, the trivia host will play about ninety seconds of music. Last week, we heard “This Love” by Maroon 5 and all collectively decided it was one of the best songs ever. Songs About Jane reminds me of watching VH1 countdown on Saturday mornings, having sweaty forehead bangs, and having to sit in a booster seat.
That’s the last time I remember enjoying Maroon 5’s music, though. So, while we tried to match lead actresses to their respective Nicholas Sparks movies for points, we deliberated over when exactly Maroon 5 lost their sound.
I feel a tinge of guilt wanting to write something critical, because the majority of my writing is recommending - I want you to listen to a song because I love it, watch this interview I’ve had on repeat, or a host of other things I’m wanting to share. I never want to discourage anyone from listening to music they love, because taste is completely subjective. However, this substack comes to you more out of genuine curiosity rather than the need to write a scathing review.
I asked the great folks who follow @chucktownshirleys on instagram and there was a collective accordance that, Yes, the early 2000s sound was a beautiful and nostalgic time and, Yes, after 2011, Maroon 5 was releasing music that felt like the scene in Pitch Perfect where Aubrey and Chloe fight in the auditorium because everyone else wants to change the Barton Bella’s sound and Aubrey projectile vomits (for the second time). That craveable pop rock sound they once had, was gone. Despite this, Anna Kendrick doesn’t swoop in to save the day, we just get a couple of dull collaborations with Wiz Khalifa and Cardi B.
Songs About Jane and It Won’t Be Soon Before Long jump out with the kind of tension you could cut with a knife. The songwriters have a keen ability to write about it without effectively saying it. Two decades later and this feels like a lost art form, considering recent hits like “Slut Me Out” by NLE Choppa or - dare I say it - “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, T.I, and Pharrell Williams. All I can really say to those is, time and place. And consent.
Personally, I love the song “Shiver” from Songs About Jane. The summary of this song is, boy is this girl difficult, but she is so hot, and who wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of such a heartfelt synopsis? Besides that, I love how the electric guitar riff sets this song up. It compliments the rest of the album and could’ve stood alone as a strong single.
In the mixing and production, the band relies heavily on an isolated, dry sounding drum to create a vintage feel - leveling themselves with bands like Led Zeppelin and The Temptations. Go back and listen to each of their discographies - the drums are bone dry. Thematically, the lyrics follow stories of relationships - virulent, meteoric, tender, and everything in between. It’s exactly what you see present in The 1975 or Arctic Monkeys’ discography, yet there’s something more palatable for a suburban soccer mom about Adam Levine over Matty Healy or Alex Turner.
Okay - maybe there WAS something more palatable. But that’s long dissipated. A few people who responded to my story made mention of “Payphone” (ft. Wiz Khalifa) and “Love Somebody” - if you were listening to pop radio in the mid 2010s, you couldn’t avoid it. Consider other chart toppers of 2012; “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore, “We Are Young” (ft. Janelle Monae) by Fun., “Locked Out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars, and “I Love It” by Icona Pop. You could be thinking, wow! Those were the days! Maybe some of you are thinking holy shit I hate all of those songs. I share both of those sentiments, annoyed with the simplicity of choruses like “I don’t care, I love it” yet remembering how those songs dominated pop charts - and are still being played by Charleston DJs over ten years later.
Pop music leans on simplicity to create ear worms. You likely won’t recall a song like “Moves Like Jagger” for its lexical density.
So, chalk it up to the inescapable effects of Top 40 radio coupled with watered down pop rock. In the early 2010s, Maroon 5 is still relevant, just missing the edgy-ness and appeal they once had.
If you’re like me, you weren’t paying attention to football before September of 2023. Did you know that the NFL doesn’t pay their half-time performers? Do you think Maroon 5 knew this?
In 2018, we are offered Red Pill Blues and later, a Super Bowl Performance that no one really wanted. There was even a Change.org petition where fans urged the band to back out. Their choice to go through with playing the Super Bowl halftime show was likely a promotional effort for their most recent album, and in some ways, maybe a last ditch effort to stay relevant. In more or less words, it was the And Just Like That of the band’s career.
The halftime show would hold a different kind of weight if Colin Kaepernick hadn’t been effectively punished by the NFL for exercising his first amendment right to protest. For a quick rundown - Kaepernick was a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. He made the decision to take a knee during the national anthem before games in protest of police brutality against unarmed black Americans. Other players began to join in, and the NFL eventually decided that players could decide between either standing on the field for the national anthem or waiting in the locker room. After the 2019 Super Bowl, Kaepernick became a free agent and - has not played in a game or been on a roster since.
Adam Levine was quoted saying “You know, I think that when you look back at every single halftime show, people just can’t — it’s this like insatiable urge to hate a little bit,” I’m not in the right profession if I can’t handle a little bit of controversy. It’s what it is. We expected it. We’d like to move on from it.”
The performance was tolerable. That’s really all I have to say.
Two things can be right at once - you can hate Maroon 5 because the urge to dogpile is incessant, and you can also hate the fact that they agreed to play the 2019 Super Bowl amidst controversy surrounding the first amendment right to protest. You can also hate them for a secret third reason, if you really wanted to.
That being said, I don’t think the reason Maroon 5 fell off is because they decided to play the Super Bowl Half Time show in a year where it was more contentious than ever, where athletes began to exercise their first amendment rights and the National Football League inhibited their careers because of it. I think their recent music sucks because they strayed too far from the things they were once very good at. I think they made insensitive promotional choices deciding to sign on as the second backup option for the 2019 Super Bowl.
Another week has passed and I’m writing this before heading to trivia with Alex, Drew, and Lexi. I wonder what songs the trivia host will play between questions and if they will spark this much debate. At the very least, it gives me something else to write about.
That’s all for now, love you.