Maroon 5’s third studio album, Hands All Over, might have come out over a year ago, but its songs are still playing on the radio and resonating with their audience, proof of the band’s talent and progress since its debut in the pop rock world nearly 10 years ago.
Frontman Adam Levine and crew have come a long way since their first album Songs About Jane, which featured the hits “This Love,” “Harder to Breathe” and “She Will Be Loved” and carried the general theme of heartbreak and anguish, all of the songs revolving around Levine’s ex-girlfriend. It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, released in 2007, held a much more positive tone about regaining confidence and attitude after a bad relationship with hits such as “If I Never See Your Face Again,” “Makes Me Wonder” and “Wake Up Call.” Hands All Over continues the band’s journey through relationships by capturing the giddiness of a brand new love with someone exciting and fresh who they can’t get enough of.
According to a Nov. 21 Examiner article, Maroon 5 won their first American Music Award with Hands All Over. While it has not done as commercially well as their other albums, it still debuted at second place in the Billboard Top 200 and has gone Gold with over 700,000 copies sold.
In a time when most of the pop music on the radio is synthesized and impersonal, Maroon 5 stays true to their roots as a pop rock band. While the formulaic and overplayed “Moves Like Jagger” featuring Christina Aguilera is their main summer hit, it is not the standout track on a well-rounded album with several potential hit singles.
Tracks like “Stutter” and “I Can’t Lie” give the album an upbeat and catchy tempo with solid beats that the audience can tap their feet to for hours on end. The album’s first single “Misery” carries a similar backdrop, the beat hitting the spot and Levine’s unique, melodic voice crooning out “I am in misery/There ain’t nobody who can comfort me” once again perfectly describing the misery of infatuation.
Their other hit single, “Never Gonna Leave this Bed,” is the perfect ballad to show how smooth and soulful the album is in contrast to their more electric previous records. It may lack the edginess or angst of their past hits, but it’s nice to see Adam’s found some love and avoided becoming the male Taylor Swift.
That aside, it wouldn’t be a Maroon 5 album without at least one track capable of sending listeners into a depressive state. “Just a Feeling” describes the immediate pain and shock after a breakup and how much two people who love each other can hate each other after the damage they inflict. “Runaway” then details the aftermath, describing how people second-guess themselves and grapple with the loneliness a breakup entails.
Hands All Over is nothing spectacularly innovative, and it won’t surprise hardcore fans who know the band’s style. However, it is pleasant to hear them sing about love that isn’t manipulative or unfaithful. Its optimistic happiness and catchy tunes make something monotonous like driving a significantly more cheerful experience. It’s an album worth purchasing as a whole rather than downloading individual songs.
Maroon 5 proves with their consistent success that they are veterans in the competitive music scene. The artists have managed to stay true to their original style after achieving worldwide acclaim and work with the same ethic since their breakthrough to produce music their fans will adore. The album may have been released one year ago, but its tracks haven’t gotten old yet.
