BY: Kodi Robertson
A guitar plays, the chords of strings are plucked at a quick tempo. Standing alone, the strings sing out notes that fly off the neck of the guitar fluidly. Adam Levine’s presence is felt as he waits patiently for his cue to sing. Levine finally hits the first lyric blending his voice with Carmichael’s guitar chords. Maroon 5 is known for not being afraid to explore outside of their genre. A band that started out as alternative, has slid into the pop genre with ease changing the genre little by little each day.
Sitting at number one on the Billboard Top 100 for six weeks straight, “Girls Like You” does not seem to be leaving the top five anytime soon. Levine and company are no strangers to producing top quality songs. Maroon 5’s fourth album “Overexposed” top hit “One More Night” stayed at the top of the list for nine consecutive weeks. One has to ask the question though: does “Girls Like You” have that same potential?
When you think of top songs from decades like the 90’s or 80’s, one may think of multiple instruments coordinating together like a smaller modern-day orchestra. Bands like Guns N” Roses ruled the rock genre with hits like “November Rain” capitalizing on exploring their art with a tasteful number of instruments. “Girls Like You” like most modern hits, breaks this mold by using only what is necessary to make a song. The difference between most artists today and Maroon 5 is that whenever a song is made using “simple” notes or lyrics, Maroon 5 does this stylistically. Sometimes all it takes to make a catchy song is a blend of simplicity with synchronicity.
“Girls Like You” follows the story of a man who feels underserving of a special woman. Maroon 5 is famous for songs about love or significant others dating back to one of their best albums “Songs About Jane”. Young people today seek that feeling of being needed and loved, and although most love stories don’t end like “Romeo and Juliet”, (thankfully…) most songs that top the Billboard 100 are about a lost love or the desire to fulfill that need to be loved. Lyrics from “Girls Like You” are relatable and ring true to most young adults today.
‘Cause girls like you
Run around with guys like me
‘Til sundown, when I come through
I need a girl like you, yeah yeah
Girls like you
Love fun, yeah me too
What I want when I come through
I need a girl like you, yeah yeah
These lyrics are very very simple. While some may have an issue with that, if you focus too much on the lyrics you’ll miss how unique the structure is. Music is like poetry and being able to spot a song’s structure and the way it is delivered can be the factor in what makes it unique and popular.
I spent last night
On the last flight to you
Took a whole day up
Trying to get way up, ooh ooh
We spent the daylight
Trying to make things right between us
And now it’s all good baby
Roll that Backwood baby
And play me close
The rhyme scheme is flexible, it’s easy to follow, and the lyrics follow the same speech pattern that most young adults use today. The way Maroon 5 tells the speaker’s story reflects how young people treat relationships today with lyrics like:
You spent the weekend
Getting even, ooh ooh
We spent the late nights
Making things right, between us
“Girls Like You” can be played at almost any setting (with the exception of one curse word). Relatability and simplicity are the key factors that has kept this song on the number one spot on the Top 100 for so long. With five weeks of topping the charts and two different music videos, “Girls like You” doesn’t quite plan on dropping down below Kodak Black’s “ZEZE” just yet.
With more and more women rising up in the Me Too movement, there is a right and responsibility for artists to “speak their truth” and bring awareness to such a tragic issue in the U.S. Maroon 5 has created a song that fits so perfectly with the issue at hand and endorsing Me Too leaders like gymnast Aly Raisman, and many other activists is not just ethically right, it’s also business savvy.
https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100