Grammy winner releases album

Levine wants Maroon 5’s records to reflect where the group is at the moment.

By JOHN BENSON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

Nowhere but down.

That’s exactly where Maroon 5 is hoping to avoid going with the recent release of its sophomore effort “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long.” The album acts as the highly anticipated follow-up to the soul/pop act’s 2002 debut “Songs About Jane,” which sold 10 million copies worldwide and earned the Los Angeles-based band two Grammy Awards.

“I think that there’s varying degrees of sophomore slumps,” said singer Adam Levine, during a recent media conference call. “I think we’ve avoided Spin Doctors territory. But I think at the same time, we have a lot more to prove. We want a career; we want to be around for a while. We want to not just be a flavor of the month or flavor of the year.”

While Maroon 5 was the toast of the music industry, the band wasn’t without its pundits. Then again, success begets jealously or cynicism. However, any questions were put to rest when “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” hit the streets to positive press and healthy sales figures. Already the disc has crossed the platinum threshold since its May release date.

While the group earned praise for its rock and R&B sound, Levine said the outfit was cognizant of not retracing past steps heard on prior hit singles “This Love,” “She Will Be Loved,” “Harder to Breathe” and “Sunday Morning.”

“I think the most important thing with making records is that you reflect exactly where you are at that moment,” Levine said. “And then that becomes something that you refer back to when you play the songs live as the years go on. I started listening to a lot of different things. The band kind of started branching out musically. It seems like the right step for us to have taken.”

Added guitarist James Valentine, “(The new album) was definitely influenced largely by all the years that we spent on the road playing the ‘Songs About Jane’ material. The only conscious thing that we really went into the studio thinking was that we definitely wanted some more up-tempo songs.

Midtempo songs

“All the songs on ‘Songs About Jane’ are kind of midtempo, so we did want a couple more up-tempo songs to accent the set. We’re excited to be able to play those songs now in front of audiences.”

Among the upbeat tracks fans can expect to hear when Maroon 5 comes to Cleveland Friday for a show at Quicken Loans Arena are lead single “Makes Me Wonder,” the hip-hop-influenced rock track “A Little of Your Time” and the guitar-driven “If I Never See Your Face.” 

If we learned anything about “Songs About Jane” it would be Maroon 5 seems to have a knack for writing poppy hooks that seemingly enter our consciousness, and unknowingly force us to hum and tap along.

“I think there’s something about what we do that is very attractive to people,” Levine said. “And that’s an amazing feeling. I feel really connected to audiences when we play for them, and I think we’re just blessed with having that thing, that intangible thing. I don’t know how long it’ll last. I don’t know what it is, but it’s very exciting.” 

“I think those sort of songs take longer to really seep into the public’s consciousness,” Valentine said. “I think that’s why it took so long for ‘Songs About Jane’ and even like our singles, they tend to be slow burns.”

“But once they do, they stick like glue,” Levine said.

Added Valentine, “Exactly.”