Music Review: Maroon 5 "Wake Up Call"

Maroon 5

Wake Up Call

Album: It Won’t Be Soon Before Long

Year: 2007

       Adam Levine beats up his girlfriend’s other boyfriend in the unapologetic “Wake Up Call.”

          A bristling keyboard opens the single, setting a tense tone. For the past hour, his girlfriend has been offering explanations for why she cheated on him with his best friend. She rationalizes it by saying they weren’t right each other and would have broke up eventually. He sees her reasoning as faulty considering  her actions. He tells her he couldn’t help what he did. He’s an emotional guy, was angry, and deaf to her trying to stop him. (“I didn't hear what you were saying./I live on raw emotion baby/I answer questions never maybe/And I'm not kind if you betray me./So who the hell are you to say we/Never would have made it babe.”)

             In the pre-chorus, he tells her they could’ve worked their problems out. She could’ve told him what he needed to do. She didn’t have to seek out someone else to fulfill her needs. It’s over and he didn’t cause the situation. When everyone finds out what  she and her best friend did to him, they will ignore them and not speak to them. A “it just happened” isn’t a plausible reason. (“If you needed love/Well then ask for love/Could have given love/Now I’m taking love/And it’s not my fault/Cause you both deserve/What is coming now/So don’t say a word.”)
 

     In the chorus, it was a shock to see his girlfriend and his best friend sleeping together. According to him, their relationhip was great and everything was going to smoothly.  Howver, he realizes his girlfriend is only out for herself. Upset, he gets into a fistfight with his best friend. His best friend won’t be able to show his face to her or him after getting beat up.  (“Wake up call/Caught you in the morning with another one in my bed/Don't you care about me anymore?/Don’t you care about me? I don't think so./Six foot tall/Came without a warning so I had to shoot him dead/He won't come around here anymore/Come around here? I don't think so.”)

        He explains he would have done anything for her. If she wanted to leave him, all she had to do was tell him so. She didn’t have to pretend and have an affair on the side. Now, he wants nothing to do with her and wants her to move out his house. He can’t even look at her without getting ticked off.  (“Would have bled to make you happy/You didn't need to treat me that way/And now you beat me at my own game/And now I find you sleeping soundly/And your lovers screaming loudly/Hear a sound and hit the ground.”)

          The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

          In the bridge, he says he would’ve done it all over again. He mocks her by faking an apology and regret.  His last scatching question is aimed at her affections for his best friend. (“ I don’t feel so bad, I don’t feel so bad, I don’t feel so bad/I'm so sorry darling/Did I do the wrong thing?/Oh, what was I thinking?/Is his heart still beating?”)

         The chorus is sung three times to end the single.  
 

       Levine's barbed, sarcastic vocals manage are both vulnerable and pained during the verses. He really loved her and in a split second, he became disillusioned. She turned their relationship into a farce and that is the real unforgiveable offense.

    The music arrangeement has the verbal fight start slowly, with slight keyboards and low drums in the first verse.  In the pre-chorus, the volume rises and the keyboard crashes.  It leads to the chorus, which has the full instrumentation. By the bridge, the keyboards push, cracking with resentment.

      The foaming  “Wake Up Call”  bites with gentle force.