Review: Maroon 5 - V
- Sep 9, 2014
- 2 min read
By Cortney Willis, Copy Editor
[Interscope; 2014]
Rating: 3/10
Key Track: “My Heart Is Open”
The trying-to-be-clever-but-really-just-cheesy title of Maroon 5’s latest studio effort serves as a warning for the similarly disappointing quality of the album. V (get it? Because the band is called Maroon 5 and this is its fifth album!) is a short 40 minutes in length, but its horrid sound makes listening to it feel like a much longer journey.
Maroon 5 has never had a particularly distinct sound, but the band’s 2002 debut Songs About Jane was a fun, welcome deviation from the then-typical pop of artists such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera that dominated charts. Adam Levine, vocalist of Maroon 5, infused a rock element into his band’s pop-leaning songs; the result was a great start for what could have been a great band.
Unfortunately, Maroon 5 never quite matched the intrigue of its debut album, only managing to put out a few fun singles over the years. V, however, is an over-produced, lazy, talentless mess.
If he wasn't already, Adam Levine became a household name when NBC’s "The Voice" premiered in 2011. As one of the celebrity coaches for the reality singing competition, Levine proved to be a charismatic individual and a talented vocal coach. It’s safe to say Levine is more well known for his “bromance” with fellow coach Blake Shelton than his musical talent these days. If Levine spent a little more time focusing on songwriting and a little less time in that spinning red chair, V might have been a decent album.
From its opening track, “Maps,” Levine’s vocals sound like a teenager who inhaled too much helium. His falsetto can be pretty when used well, but every time it pops up on V it’s unbearable.
Levine’s falsetto is the most grating on “Sugar,” a track that is infectious despite being inherently awful and possessing no originality or talent. It can and will get stuck in the listener’s head.
“Unkiss Me” would be a decent track if it were sung by a boyband and not a 30-something man. Cliche, trite lyrics are the building blocks of the cheese-fest of a song: “Unkiss me / Untouch me / Untake this heart / I’m missing just one thing / A brand new start.”
The most offensive thing Maroon 5 does on V, oddly enough, is deliver an excellent song. After 37 minutes of diluted horseshit, Gwen Stefani joins the party on “My Heart Is Open,” an earnest, simple love song on which Levine actually remembers how to sing. With all the fancy production and too-high notes taken away, Maroon 5 deliver an emotional, honest track.
V stands as a clue that Adam Levine needs to stick to his day job.
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