Review Summary: And look at the birds, flying in a pattern southward.
notes for
V review:
V is fine, I guess. (avoid first person)
They should have called this one
Overexposed because I already feel sick of [no. really bad, don't include]
Does it matter that Maroon 5 isn't a band anymore? (reword so it doesn’t have a question mark)
(Maybe they're more of a band now, I didn't pay that much attention) It's hard to pay attention when it sounds like this, even though it's a little easier this way. This is kind of like ambient music, in that it feels like a series of light, easy-listening moods not a constructed pattern. Is adam levine the new muzak (mention liz pelly's essay on spotify playlists being the new muzak, Might be relevant, this came out in 2014, streaming culture, label influences, etc.)
IN any case
Without "moves like jagger" (already mentioned this in overexposed review, re-work, maybe "sugar?" idk)
In 2014, music was in a different world from maroon 5's beginning. Can we really blame them for (yeah. We can. )
Maroon 5 spawned from a smorgasbord (wordy) of different styles. They never really did anything original, but at their peaks, they copied people really well. Here, they fail
V isn't a failure, but it's not a success either. Like most (all?) of their work this decade, there's spots of genius
The best parts of this album only came about by coincidence. In 2014, vaguely funky retro sounds (reword) were cool thanks to artists like (figure out the ones who made “classic”) and bruno mars popularization of breakbot and ram-era daft punk. So when this album, a clear cash-in (ehhh) puts its feet in that pool, it sounds good, because, as (
songs about jane and [it won’t be soon before long.[/i] proved, adam levine over groovy basslines sounds good. So this, plus a combo (“layered over”) of the kind of electropop sheen that max martin, dr. luke, etc excel so much at [finish, potential here!!]
I don't understand why people looking for easy lyric targets go for Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Justin Bieber when they could go for Maroon 5. "
You and me, let's go all night
Going so high, we f*** the sky
Come with me now, f*** that guy" (lol. Emphasize what does it even mean factor) speaking of lyrics, some of these are not just embarrasing but legitimately rapey. "
"One more 'no' and I'll believe you
I'll walk away and I will leave you be
And that's the last time you'll say no, say no to me". This ocmbined with the "Animals" music video (add sidenote about how their concept of lions doesn't even make sense with the traditional patriarchal gender roles - specifically, over this whole thing, try not to make it sound like an oversimplifying twitter thread, acknowledge the complexity of relationships while talking about how this is not necessarily wrong but a bit scary) It's hard to hear someone complain about others when he's basically demanding that they do what he wants.
Adam Levine, frankly, is just not a very nice person anymore. (was he ever, I don't know, am I biased by which albums I like, was he kind of sketchy the whole time, idk idk idk) When an overstepping if well-intentioned poured a bag of powdered sugar on him, presumably referencing "Sugar" and it's call to "come and put it down on me," he (make sure it's clear who "he" is here) took him (ditto) to court and got a restraining order. That's probably an overreaction, and definitely not very nice
The thing about this album is, it's not bad, persay (maybe take out). It's just that it's not really that good. You can listen to this album, without really thinking, and it's fine. In fact, if
It Won't Be Soon Before Long. didn't exist I'd probably recommend this to the average pop fan looking for a Maroon 5 album to listen to for fun. The grooves (use a new word!) are solid (not descriptive, add more here), every few songs there's at least one that really feels big, and it's basically just a brighter, better written
Overexposed. It's just suffering from what people who don't understand pop think all pop suffers from - there's not a lot of depth here. It almost feels like the reason Adam sounds so angry at times here is because he wasn't allowed to express himself like he was in the past (going off on tangent, split or be clearer)
Can fame ruin a person? Can it ruin a band? Can it make someone repress themselves? I don't know. I like to think not, but
V makes a case for yes. It feels like someone turned passive-aggressiveness and "good vibes" denial into (number here, check) minutes of music. What does htat mean
FINAL DRAFT:
V is
