Maroon 5’s latest release, Beautiful Mistakes, is the next in a long line of collaborations with top artists. From SZA and Cardi B to Future and now Megan Thee Stallion, Maroon 5 has had singles constantly on the radio through their features with various hip hop artists.
Despite the mediocre reception and increasingly generic songs on their most recent album and subsequent standalone singles, the band has managed to stay prominent on the music scene, but at what price? And is this real relevance, or just catchy but forgettable appeal?
Maroon 5 started as a rock group in 2002 with what I consider their objectively best album, Songs About Jane. Since their debut, Maroon 5 has released 6 studio albums, each progressively sounding more and more pop, with fewer rock sounds and influences. Their most recent album, Red Pill Blues, received mixed reviews, and all four singles were collaborations. I, a Maroon 5 superfan between the ages of 12 and 14, did not even know they had released another album until around 2018.
It seems that to keep radio play and streams, the band has compromised their original rock sound. At the same time, they are not shaking up the music scene or setting any trends the way they did with their 2002 music. Instead, they are following trends by teaming up with the artists setting them.
Megan Thee Stallion is one of the biggest artists in music right now, named one of the 100 most influential people of 2020 by time and garnering several hit singles last year. Beautiful Mistakes is a sleek, catchy song with an even tempo, much like their other recent songs.
Similar to Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B has had some of the biggest songs on the radio and social media in the last few years, with Bodak Yellow and WAP (featuring Megan Thee Stallion). She featured on their 2018 hit Girls Like You, which spent several weeks at number one.
Even as he puts out music with the band, frontman Adam Levine has long been the only member the general public can name and features on songs with other artists, most recently Jason Derulo.
At the same time, it is not only collaborations with other popular artists that gets Maroon 5 on the radio. Memories, their 2019 single, still plays constantly and has over one billion streams on Spotify. It is a mellow, nostalgic song but brings back the organic guitar sounds reminiscent of their earlier work.
The band has been hinting at working on new music. I hope on their next record, they bring back more instrument-driven music with fewer collaborations. Even if it does mean they will find less mainstream success, they may make a statement with more distinctive music, standing out on the current pop landscape.