Music Review: Maroon 5 "One More Night"

Maroon 5

One More Night

Album: Overexposed

Year: 2012

        Adam Levine can’t bring himself to leave a toxic relationship in the gawky “One More Night”

          Auto-tuned “oohs” with a reggaton beat open the single, setting a glittering tone.   Levine and his girlfriend have been yelling and screaming at each other all night. He can’t even remember how it started. An hour goes by, he can see the broken patten of flowers of the plates in tiny pieces on the floor. Their relationship has been volatile for as long as they have been dating. It doesn’t matter who said what anymore. The arguments happen regardless. They say cruel, damaging things. It’s exhausting him and finally, he tells her it’s over. (“You and I go hard at each other like we're going to war/You and I go rough, we keep throwing things and slamming the door/You and I get so damn dysfunctional, we stopped keeping score/You and I get sick, yeah, I know that we can't do this no more.”)

       Then, she apologizes and pulls him close to her. He’s drawn into her again. He puts his hands tightly around her waist and kisses her. He falls for it all the time. He wishes he could be stronger and resist his sexual attraction to her. (“Yeah, but baby there you go again, there you go again, making me love you/
Yeah, I stopped using my head, using my head, let it all go/Got you stuck on my body, on my body, like a tattoo/And now I'm feeling stupid, feeling stupid, crawling back to you.”)

          In the chorus, he promises it’s the last time he’ll be with her. After tonight, they are over for good. He’s not coming back anymore. (“So I cross my heart and I hope to die/That I'll only stay with you one more night/And I know I said it a million times/But I'll only stay with you one more night.”)

        She touches his arm  and brushes his face with his lips. He unclasps his hands around her and moves to put them in the middle. Then, she whispers in her and his hands on back on her waist again. When he sees her sleeping next to him in the morning, he’ll feel awful. He knows he’s a jerk and he’s using her for sex. (“Try to tell you "no" but my body keeps on telling you "yes"/Try to tell you to "stop", but your lipstick got me so out of breath/I'll be waking up in the morning, probably hating myself/And I'll be waking up, feeling satisfied but guilty as hell.”)

      The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

     In the bridge, he repeats again it’s the last time. (“ Yeah, baby, give me one more night/Yeah, baby, give me one more night (whoa, yeah)/Yeah, baby, give me one more night (oh, yeah, yeah).”)

        The pre-chorus is sung again.

       The chorus is sung twice.

      At the end, he gives up, knowing he’ll be with her again next weekend, despite himself. (“I don't know, whatever.”)

   Levine’s stuttering, skinny vocals  are ill-fitting for the lacquered, sequined instrumentation. It’s only when he slows down for the chorus that the song fits him. He seems comfortable then, considering it’s closer in style to their previous songs. Otherwise, he’s spitting the lyrics out to keep with the arrangement.

    While the band deserves credit for experimenting and trying something new, the detached “One More Night” would’ve been better for another band (i.e., No Doubt who could probably pulled it off in their sleep.)