Maroon 5 has released its sixth studio album, “Red Pills Blues,” which is the epitome of today’s pop music. The album has been making appearances on radio waves since last October with the release of “Don’t Wanna Know,” featuring Kendrick Lamar. The band has already set up a tour starting in Las Vegas on Dec. 30, to continue through the new year with special guests and appearances from the album’s featured artists.
Maroon 5 has managed to stay on the scene for over 15 years, since the release of the band’s first album, “Songs About Jane” in 2002, which features songs like “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved.” One would have to admit, the members know what they are doing if they are still relevant. Maroon 5 has an interesting method that is only practical to survive in the music industry. If one were to compare the sounds of “Songs About Jane” and “Won’t Be Soon Before Long” to that of their last album, it is clear that the band’s music, while its members are getting older, is rightfully changing with the times. “Red Pill Blues” is the only album released by the band that includes more than one song with a featured artist. Truly running wild with featured acts, “Red Pill Blues” features the likes of SZA, Julia Michaels, LunchMoney Lewis, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar and Future.
“What Lover’s Do” featuring SZA, a song that was recently marketed through Snapchat filters, is the first featured track on “Red Pill Blues.” With the use of current media, Maroon 5 dressed the “Red Pill Blues” album cover with each of the seven band members sporting popular Snapchat filters in small Polaroid headshots with sharp electric blue and magenta italicized font. “What Lover’s Do” is a catchy and repetitive tune in Levine’s signature falsetto, one of the signature qualities of Maroon 5, with lines like “Ooooh, oooh / Been wishin’ for you / Ooh, ooh / Tryna’ do what lovers do, ooh.”
One of the out-of-place sounding songs on the album, “Closure,” differs drastically from the vocal tracks seen from the rest of “Red Pill Blues.” Commencing the song with the smooth vocals and pop falsetto of Levine, the first three minutes of the song are laced beautifully through gentle percussions and the works of the saxophone played by Kenneth Whalum. “If you want closure, come on and close that door / I know, know, know what’cha really came for / I know what’cha want, baby, what’cha came here for / Closure.”
The nearly 12-minute song then dips into a chill and purely instrumental exchange of sounds. With keyboardist PJ Morton swapping organ riffs with guitar, the song continues for another eight minutes, being the longest song Maroon 5 has released in all six of its albums.
“Red Pill Blues” is bound to be another successful release from Maroon 5. By simply knowing where to head with the music, the band continues to stay on the scene and please old and new fans just by sticking with themes of new love, with songs like “Lips On You” and heartbreak and betrayal, with “Cold” featuring Future. Even though its sound has changed drastically since the heavy drums and guitar solos of “Songs About Jane” fans should still stick around because Maroon 5 is not done yet.
Photo provided by Lunchbox LP (https://goo.gl/oXjA9U) via flickr
