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 The American pop-rockers led by frontman Adam Levine and featuring guitarist James Valentine, bassist Mickey Madden, drummer Matt Flynn and keyboardist PJ Morton (currently filling in for Jesse Carmichael, who’s on hiatus), won Thais over with their previous shows in 2009 and 2011.

Now, with even more hits now their sleeves, especially the recent global smash “Payphone”, the band is packing its set list with crowd-pleasers like “This Love”, “She Will Be Loved”, “Makes Me Wonder”, “Wake Up Call”, “Moves Like Jagger” and “One More Night”, the second single from the latest album.

Valentine chatted with us via email. 

 

How is it going with “Overexposed”? 

The feedback has been incredible. It’s been amazing when we start to play a new song on tour and immediately all the fans in the crowd know every word. It means so much to us that after the short amount of time the album has been out, we’re seeing this response in every city we visit.

 

What was the main influence in the direction of your new album?

After the success we had from the way we went about working on “Moves Like Jagger”, we thought it could work again. So, we called in the team of writers and producers we worked with on that song and decided to open up our way of working to include more co-writes and multiple producers. The result turned out to be great and we’re happy we took that chance of trying things differently. We’re very happy with the album.

The music industry definitely has a stronger electronic influence worldwide, but we weren’t trying to make an electronic pop album. In working with the same team as for “Moves Like Jagger” and other writers and producers who’ve been recording more modern pop and electronic based songs, it all seemed to fit this time.

Why do you call it “Overexposed”?

We were poking fun at ourselves. After the success of “Moves Like Jagger” and because Adam’s face was out there so much through “The Voice”, we realised that we may be getting to that overexposed point. So we decided to call it ourselves before others could.

 

Any comments about the mixed reviews for this album?

Again, we’re very happy with how the album turned out. And so far from the reactions at our live shows, it seems the fans are very happy as well. Not sure what the direction we’re heading is, but we’re excited with where we are right now and looking forward to begin working on another album.

 

“Moves Like Jagger” was such a huge hit. Did you feel the pressure with “Payphone”?

We felt nervous about following it up, yeah, the same way we felt nervous about following up on “Songs About Jane” and after “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long”. Because, you never know if you’re going to be able to get that lightning in a bottle to strike again the next time. You never know what the fans are going to react to. But once we began working on “Payphone” we knew we had another great hit and once we finished it, all the nervousness about it went away. Once you’re done working on a song or album and you feel great about what you’ve done with it and you’re happy to release it, you have to let it go from there and let it do its own thing.

 

What was it like working with Max Martin?

Max is incredible. Because there were so many writers on all the songs and people in the studio producing tracks, we needed someone at the helm to really make sure that everything was going in a consistent direction. Max made sure that as much as one song may differ structurally from another, that they all had a common vein that followed through the album. He really did make us record this album differently than we had the three previous ones. It was a great experience working with him.

 

Ten years on and four studio albums, how has Maroon 5 evolved as a band?

Well, we still have the same influences that made us want to make music from the start, so at the core we’re the same. However, over the course of the last decade plus, we’ve developed new influences and musical styles that, combined with the new developments in music’s technology and the ever-changing styles of music, as well as the people we’ve worked with along the way, have helped shape the evolution of the band.

 

What’s the best part of being in Maroon 5?

We get to make music that we love for people who enjoy, appreciate, and love it as well.

  NO ROOM AT THE IMP