Music Review: Maroon 5 "Maps"

Maroon 5

Maps

Album: V

Year: 2014

           Adam Levine isn’t sure what he wants in the slithery “Maps.”

           A muggy guitar opens the single, setting a sticky tone. He makes a random left. He isn’t sure where’s he going. He’s been home, work and the bar for the last month. With his ex-girlfriend, they went to parties, concerts and the latest art exhibitions around the state. He would tell her about his day and they would talk about whatever came to their minds. An EDM song blasts on his radio and he flips the station again, only to the bass throttling his ears. Moody pop songs seem to be off the rotation for the night and he tries to find another station that would play one. He thought she was happy and they had a good relationship. She had just moved in with him a couple months ago. After living alone for so long, he couldn’t deal with having someone else in his home all the time. It was as though she took over. He figures she picked up on his frustration. (“I miss the taste of the sweet life/I miss the conversation/I'm searching for a song tonight/I'm changing all of the stations/I liked to think that we had it all/We drew a map to a better place/But on that road I took a fall/Oh baby why did you run away?”)

            In the pre-chorus, he thinks that she gave up too soon. He helped her when she had some health issues spring up. She was afraid she wouldn’t ever have kids. He went to her all her appointments and rubbed her back whenever she cried. (“I was there for you/In your darkest times/I was there for you/In your darkest night.”)

           In the chorus, he thinks that she wasn’t there for him. Sure, he hasn’t been the easiest to been around lately. However, he had a lot of stuff going on. He was trying to make it work. She told him she loved him. Now, he wants to talk her and straighten everything out. (“But I wonder, where were you?/When I was at my worst/Down on my knees/And you said you had my back/So I wonder, where were you?/All the roads you took came back to me/So I'm following the map that leads to you/The map that leads to you/Ain't nothing I can do/The map that leads to you/Following, following, following to you/The map that leads to you/Ain't nothing I can do/The map that leads to you/Following, following, following.”)

              He wakes up at night, thinking that she’s walking to the bathroom. He walks to his dresser and starts touching her numbers and then hangs up. Why can’t he forget her? Usually, it’s one girl leaves and he has another waiting for him. He has no desire to do that this time. (“I hear your voice in my sleep at night/Hard to resist temptation/Cause something strange has come over me/Now I can't get over you/No, I just can’t get over you.”)

            The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.          

             The pre-chorus is sung twice.

        The chorus is sung again to end the single.    

         Levine’s prickish vocals love to hate his ex-girlfriend. He wants to find her so badly and once he does, she is going to get an earful from him. Then, he will kiss her full on the lips. The same can be said for the arrangement: it wants to be a pleasant, easy on the ears dance song. But then the guitars barge in during the pre-chorus, reminding everyone there's tons of testosterone and masculinity has not been lost.

          The  impassable   “Maps” has no sense of direction.