Maroon 5’s “Memories” Song Review

Hello, I’m MusiCommentator, and today we’re going to be talking about Maroon 5. I would try to come up with some joke or something funny to put in this intro, but Maroon 5 is such a soulless band at this point that they have nothing I could poke fun at within their entire legacy.

That intro makes me sound like I hate this band with a burning passion, but really I don’t. I have not liked Maroon 5 as a band for a while (I probably have not gotten a great deal of enjoyment out of their music since the early 2010s, though “Animals” was also okay), but I cannot say I hate the band. This is largely because the band makes themselves un-hateable, in a way. They make SUCH generic music at this point that I could not possibly muster up enough energy in myself to hate them for it. Their music is so emotionless that using strong emotions against them–such as hating their music–would feel like an overkill. However, that does not mean I like their music. Their music has been pretty bad for years now, especially on their latest album “Red Pill Blues”. But, here at musicommentator.wordpress.com, we do not try to judge songs before we hear them, so maybe “Memories” will act as a complete 180 for the band’s career. I guess the only thing we can do to figure this out is to look at the lyrics.

“Here’s to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not
‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we’ve been through
Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way
‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you”

I shouldn’t have been so optimistic, these lyrics are just as generic as they have always been for this band.

Now I know I’m going to get a bunch of people calling me heartless for saying this and that “I just don’t understand it, man”, but I cannot pick out one topic Adam Levine is ACTUALLY saying in this. His overuse of pronouns makes it so hyper-relatable that I cannot possibly relate to anything he is saying. The Genius.com annotations say this is supposed to be about a toast to the dead, but it could be interpreted in so many other ways, such as a reflecting on a finished relationship (which is how I originally interpreted this song) or on some era of your past. And sure, art having multiple interpretations is usually a good thing, but these lyrics are so lazy and generic that the amount of interpretations that can exist of this chorus’s meaning is not a statement of its artistic integrity: it’s a testament to the track’s lazy songwriting.

“There’s a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain
When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same
Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name
‘Cause I can’t reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah”

I would comment on these lyrics, but there is not real substance to comment on. These are the most generic lyrics someone could write about mourning. How does this band even make grief sound emotionless?

“Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo
Memories bring back, memories bring back you”

A pop song with a “doo-doo” passage…in 2019? Seriously, how does this band keep getting hits?

“Now my heart feel like an ember and it’s lighting up the dark
I’ll carry these torches for ya that you know I’ll never drop, yeah”

This would probably be a good set of lyrics if it was in literally any other song.

Overall, this is garbage. This song is straight trash. I mean, like I said before, I don’t hate much of Maroon 5’s songs, but this might be one of the few exceptions. These lyrics are so hackneyed and bland that they sound like they could have come from an online generator. I should not have expected more from Maroon 5 in 2019, but I mean come on. How do you make a song about mourning the death of a loved one sound so void of all emotion? Also, let’s talk about the instrumentals, because those are bad as well. Throughout the entire 3-minute track, the SAME melody is played on the guitar. For all three minutes, I have to listen to the same guitar loop play itself over and over. And maybe having this loop going on would be okay if there were any other instruments, but there isn’t! I’m pretty sure there’s some hi-hats in the second verse, maybe, and maybe a bass line somewhere in there, but this instrumental is so bare and boring that these sparse instrumental variations don’t change anything. And of course, songs can be great with just a guitar and a voice, but this obviously-processed guitar loop has no emotion to keep the listener engaged, and it’s so damn repetitive. Now, I know I have been ripping into this song about grieving loved ones, so I apologize if I have hurt anyone who gained an emotional attachment to this song. That is not my intention at all. I just feel that this song is so generic that anyone feeling these awful emotions would cling onto it no matter what. It’s kind of sickening, actually. This band is taking advantage of mourners to get some fat royalty checks. You’re pathetic, Adam Levine. Easy 1 out of 5 for me. Do you agree?

Thank you for reading my “Memories” song review. If you liked this review, make sure to follow my website, Twitter, and Instagram, like this post, and be sure to check in to read my future reviews. Plus, check out my new Instagram account @one_sentence_album_reviews if you want to see more reviews geared towards albums. Also, if you have something you want to see me review, tell me in the comments. Until then, keep on listening to good music!