Maroon 5 – Overexposed
Right from the first track of Overexposed it gives you a pretty clear idea of what to expect out of it, extremely radio-friendly pop music, that seems a bit overworked. That said this is not a bad album, it’s not, it’s a solid album that will spawn chart friendly hits (and already has) that will keep Maroon 5 at the forefront of current popular music…but, this is no “Songs About Jane” either. “Songs About Jane” was their first studio album that burst Maroon 5 onto the scene back in 2002 with songs like “Harder To Breathe”. Now not saying they weren’t a pop-band back then, but not in the traditional sense, with frontman Adam Levine’s unusual but alluring falsetto vocals, the bands rock edge and great writing, ‘Jane’ was a great album…but has Maroon 5 been ‘overexposed’ to the pop machine for too long?
The album starts off with the reggae tinged “One More Night” which I enjoyed right off the bat, is arguably one of the better songs on the album, and I’d be very surprised if many weren’t singing it in their car as it blasts from their favorite pop radio station at some point in the near future. Another point that must get a mention too is that it has a pretty cool video out for it already as well featuring Levine as a boxer. The first single off the album, Payphone (how many of you kids out there have never actually seen a payphone?) is a chart topper with it hitting number two in the US Billboard charts and topping the charts in Canada and the UK . Payphone is another great song on the album and was a smart first release, the only unnecessary thing in the song is the guest appearance by Wiz Khalifa, while it works for the most part, the song likely could have done without it.
At this point the album get’s decidedly “poppy and synthy” which to me, is a bit uncharacteristic of the band, and caters more to their selection of pop producers used on the album. Lost in the production are the sounds of a ‘band’, the instruments ground down by the auto-tuning soundboard workings of wizard hit makers, at times it sounds like Levine is in a sound booth singing to a track. While they progress into pop-land they will pull in more fans that joined their following with the hit “Moves Like Jagger”, but will they push away the “Jane” crowd?
The song “Tickets” was almost made for a remix, while it almost doesn’t need one to be a club hit, it should end up being a hit just the same. “Sad” is where the album focuses on Levine’s vocals a bit more, and there is a single ‘instrument’ in a piano, where you can almost picture Levine sitting in a darkened room at the piano while rain falls against the window in the background. This is another tune on the album that has potential, with decent lyrics and an actual instrument with Levine’s signature vocals.
The album closes out with “Beautiful Goodbye”, which is hopefully not prophetic, which is likely the third biggest hit on the album after ‘One more Night’ & ‘Payphone’. It’s catchy, has decent lyrics, solid vocals, and the whole band is present, if it were me this would be the third release off this album after ‘One More Night’.
While not their best work, this is still a decent album that will have yet another string of hits off of it, but I would love to see the band step back into making music from their “Jane” days, the days that made them popular in the first place. While overexposed is still a good album Maroon 5 has produced better, even their last album “Hands All Over” was a few steps ahead of this one. Even though I am disappointed with some of their choices on this album I am still willing to give it a three and a half out of five. Hopefully the bands ‘overexposure’ stops and they can continue to produce more fresh pop-rock laden music in the future.
1. “One More Night” (3:39)
2. “Payphone” (featuring Wiz Khalifa) (3:51)
3. “Daylight” (3:46)
4. “Lucky Strike” (3:05)
5. “The Man Who Never Lied” (3:25)
6. “Love Somebody” (3:49)
7. “Ladykiller” (2:46)
8. “Fortune Teller” (3:26)
9. “Sad” (3:14)
10. “Tickets” (3:30)
11. “Doin’ Dirt” (3:33)
12. “Beautiful Goodbye” (4:18)
3.5 / 5