Maroon 5 – Red Pill Blues (Album Review)

Why don’t we mention Maroon 5 as one of the best pop acts of all time? Since their emergence to the scene in 2002, the group has been able to consistently hammer home hits, showing great versatility when it comes to their artistry. With this being their sixth album, the group continues to expand on their sound, collaborating with some of the best in the game. Based off the first few singles I’ve heard thus far, I can see this as being one of their best albums to date, which is saying a lot considering their successful history.

TOP 5

5. BEST 4 YOU

‘Best For You’ is my favorite type of pop music — It’s smooth, it’s sly, and it transcends seasons. I feel like I can play this song in Boston with the Drop-top down during the winter and have no problem freezing my ass off because I’m groovin’ to it!

Feel-good music like this might be Adam Levine’s best sound. With his dynamic voice, I feel like the singer has this uncanny ability to translate any scenario into positivity. You have bleeding ulcers? Let Adam Levine tell you that you do, not the doctor!

4. WAIT

‘Wait’ is deep, passionate, but really fun to listen to. With this explosive instrumental, Adam Levine takes full advantage of his soul-clinching voice, begging his woman to wait it out for him when it comes to romance. The song has a really good rhythm to it, and the melody is hella catchy.

3. WHISKEY

On ‘Whiskey’, Maroon 5 delivers this soothing track that has Adam Levine opening up about the tender love and care he receives from his current lady. As usual, Levine’s vocals are stunning, as he’s able to grab this firm grip of our emotions with each line he delivers.

I proclaim A$AP Rocky to be one of the coolest dudes on this planet, and features like this back up my claim. On his verse, the NY rapper effortlessly pours out his emotions, doing it in a way that still sounds trill as s–t. Does anything in this world move Pretty Flackko?

The melody on this song is phenominal!

2. COLD

I was really late to the party on this song, but once I joined it, I fell in love!

You know what makes this song so great? It’s all the different musical elements meshing together: It’s the personal lyrics, it’s the shifty production, it’s the stretched out vocals; they all seem to collaborate really well with one another on this song. When you add that hip hop flair that Future adds on his verse, every criteria was met in terms of making a complete song.

The same way Adam feels about his woman is how I feel about the club bouncers that ask for $20 at the door: How can they be so cold and not let me in for only $10 after I told them my sob story?

1. WHAT LOVERS DO

From the world of ‘random ass s–t’ comes this collaboration between funky ass ‘Maroon 5’, and the weirdo girl from around the way, ‘SZA’.

‘What Lovers Do’ is hip, is upbeat, and has this feel-good vibe attached to it. While the song is along the lines of what Adam does best, for SZA, it is a bit of a new lane for her. But when you are as talented/unique as her, your sound pretty much works on anything.

SZA and Adam Levine have tremendous chemistry on this song! I still don’t see them dating though.

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

BEST 4 YOU (4.9/5)
WHAT LOVERS DO (5/5)
WAIT (4.7/5)
LIPS ON YOU (4.5/5)
BET MY HEART (4.9/5)
HELP ME OUT (4.2/5)
WHO I AM (4/5)
WHISKEY (5/5)
GIRL LIKE YOU (3.8/5)
CLOSURE (4.2/5)
DENIM JACKET (4.2/5)
VISIONS (4.1/5)
PLASTIC ROSE (4.2/5)
DON’T WANNA KNOW (4.5/5)
COLD (5/5)

OVERALL RATING

(8.9/10)

You know what is so impressive about Maroon 5? They have this ability to take their music to a level that is higher than majority of the Pop acts that are out now. Some songs on this album will have you in awe, especially the ones that Adam gets to showcase his vocal abilities. I will not be surprised if this album produced 5 or 6 radio singles, or broke YouTube viewing records in the next few months.

Don’t you find the thin line between ‘heartbreak’ and ‘love’ to be VERY thin on this album? It’s like the most joyful song on this album contains some really cold lyrics, or the songs with the coldest lyrics have a really fun tone to it. Since love is sooooo complicated, I believe listeners will find this approach to be very relatable to them.

With ‘Red Pill Blues’, Maroon 5 met my expectations by giving us an album that contains pop hits that are vibrant, introspective, and really well written. Much like their past work, their effort might be their strongest suit, as I can tell that the group tried their hardest to get listeners to feel something from song to song. Overall, I find their approach to music to be one of the most professional, which is a trait that I think is lost in music today.