Review Summary: Maroon 5 sound like a watered down One Republic... yeah it's not pretty.
As a huge metalhead, I feel weird when I find myself enjoying mainstream pop. I know I'm not "supposed" to like it, and usually I don't, as much of it is vapid garbage. However, it would be ridiculous to say there aren't good hits. Songs like "Uptown Funk" show that pop can still be fun and there are plenty of other great pop songs out there. One of these mainstream pop bands I've always liked is Maroon 5. Well, I don't so much like the band as I like Songs About Jane. Since that album, things have been on a downward spiral. That spiral ends on V (at least as of the writing of this review). V sounds like Maroon 5 trying to be One Republic, who are themselves trying to be Coldplay. Basically a watered down version of a watered down band.
Overexposed showed us exactly what kind of band Maroon 5 was going to be for the foreseeable future, and V fits in perfectly with that sound. Gone is the distortion filled soul/pop band we used to love, and left is a lifeless hit machine. The songs are catchy, but in the same way a Katy Perry single is catchy. Sure it's stuck in your head, but you really don't want it to be. At least Katy sounds like she's having fun in her music, as the one thing that remains from SAJ is Adam's voice, but instead of filling the songs with soul, they sound like someone who has never been more bored in their life. Overall, this is the sound of a band on auto-pilot, just waiting for their next paycheck.
Musically, this album is awful. I need to stop calling Maroon 5 a "band" as everyone except for Adam gets buried underneath a layer of synth and (computer generated) bass. Not that synth and bass is a bad thing, but it really does show that this isn't a group effort, it's Adam's album. Unfortunately, while he does have a great voice, it doesn't mesh 100% with modern pop sounds. I know he wants to keep with the times, but there is a reason no one cares about an Overexposed single and This Love is STILL played even though it's THIRTEEN YEARS OLD. If he concentrated on making good music instead of modern music, things would improve ten fold. He sounds youthful enough that even if the music sounds dated, it could still fit in well enough. However, this isn't an album made for the sake of making art, it was done for money. Every song sounds like it is trying to be a hit. Nothing wrong with a hit song, but could you imagine Superunknown being nothing but Black Hole Sun for an hour? Well, that summarizes this album, only none of the songs here are even 1/5 as good as Black Hole Sun. It feels like a greatest hit compilation. Sure the hits are here, but it doesn't gel. It doesn't feel like an album.
Lyrically, things are worse than ever. Maroon 5 was never known for deep introspective lyrics, but they still had better lyrics than most pop artists. Like everything else though, Adam seems so obsessed with staying young, he doesn't realize how ridiculous most of the stuff he says is. Animal basically is a song about stalking a girl, but unlike Private Eyes or anything, it isn't interesting or creepy, it's just funny. It would be like if Michael Jackson covered "Hung Drawn Quartered" by Cancer. His voice simply doesn't come close to matching the lyrics. Everything else here isn't even worth talking about.
Honestly, Maroon 5 is dead. To be fair, I haven't liked anything they've made since 2010, but this is just the final nail in the coffin. Maybe they can make a comeback, but honestly I'm giving up hope. Just listen to Songs About Jane or It Won't Be Long
