Maroon 5 have sure changed a lot since their 2002 debut Songs About Jane. I suppose selling 10 million albums worldwide will do that to you. But whenever I listen to V, the experience is overshadowed by the fact that I know that most of these songs were not written by the whole band but by Adam Levine and outside writers. And not just any outside writers. Adam wrote this album with hit-makers like Benny Blanco, Rodney Jerkins and Ryan Tedder. He also wrote with Sia and Nate Ruess (of fun.), but those collaborations make more sense since Sia and Nate are real artists, not people operating like machines, churning out bubblegum that quickly loses its flavor and ultimately leaves a bad taste in your mouth. In any case, I just feel like this album is less of a Maroon V album and more of a collaboration between the numerous hit-makers Adam wrote with. When Maroon 5 started out with Songs About Jane, they were a purely artistic band. Sure, they had hits, but when they wrote those songs they really had no idea that they’d be even half as successful as they were. They were just writing songs to write songs. Now it just feels like all they care about is making radio-friendly hits, which makes me think that they’re just in it for the money now. Also, why should Adam write the whole album with outside writers instead of writing with the talented guys in the band? It kind of seems like the Adam Levine solo show. But, in spite of all that, some of these songs are really catchy. How long I’ll like them remains to be seen, but right now I’m digging the funky, R&B-ish “Sugar,” the beautiful ballad “Unkiss me,” and almost epic “Leaving California.”
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