By the time the members of Maroon 5 hit the stage for the latest shows of Maroon 5: The Las Vegas Residency in Las Vegas, they will likely have a good idea of which new songs will be included on their next studio album. Lucky fans may even be able to hear one or two, or a riff or hook from an unreleased track. Regardless, anything new debuted at Dolby Live will be an inside job—no collabs.
At least that’s what vocalist Adam Levine indicated in interviews following a certain Rolling Stone going viral last month for making moves to Maroon 5’s hit “Moves Like Jagger.” Mick’s moment in the social media spotlight created a full circle between the song and the subject, emphasizing the maturing of Maroon 5 into an institution that could endure until a popular band writes a song along the lines of “Moves Like Levine.”
Photo by: Travis Schneider
The band is closing in on 25 years since guitarist James Valentine joined Levine and keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael and set about recording Songs About Jane. The album spawned three hits in “Harder to Breathe,” “This Love,” and “She Will Be Loved” that gave Maroon 5 a foundation to build a solid career on. The songs also demonstrated the penchant for producing hooks Levine, Carmichael and Valentine possessed.
Maroon 5 gave pop music listeners a chance to pivot away from boy bands, but they’d soon grow beyond the borders of being a self-contained songwriting unit. Levine had provided vocals to the chorus of Kanye West’s “Heard ’Em Say” by the time Maroon 5 recorded sophomore album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, which marked the entrance of drummer Matt Flynn.
But it was “Moves Like Jagger” that foreshadowed what was to come for Maroon 5. Christina Aguilera guested, with rising producers Benny Blanco and Shellback making beats and mixing. By the time Overexposed was released in 2012, Maroon 5 had started forming relationships that would result in future hits with the likes of rapper Wiz Khalifa (“Payphone”) producer Max Martin (“One More Night”) and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder (“Maps”).
Lead single for 2017’s Red Pill Blues “Don’t Wanna Know” featured Kendrick Lamar, which indirectly brought Maroon 5 into the conflict between Lamar and Drake. The latter’s dis track “Push Ups” mocked Lamar’s contributions to Taylor Swift as well as Maroon 5, placing the band in good company—if not a glowing light.
Deciding to become a self-contained writing unit seems more like an inevitable return to roots for Maroon 5. Anyone who has attended the band’s Vegas residency can attest that the band is at the height of its powers as a live act. Levine is one of the most talented showmen of his generation, and the musicians’ prowess (rounded out by keyboardist PJ Morton) is on display live in a way that can’t come across in polished pop recordings.
Park MGM. Ticketmaster.com
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