Weekly Billboard Theory — What Lovers Do
I remember the first time I ever heard Maroon 5. I was in my sister’s car on the way to the first day of 7th grade as she was about to begin her senior year. I’ll never forget hearing the opening to “Harder To Breathe”. That song ripped then and still rips today. The band has changed quite a bit but they are still able to crank out great work with “What Lovers Do”. Let’s get into it.
Maroon 5 feat SZA
Key: Bb Major
Tempo: 100 BPM
So it’s not as funky or chromatic as their old stuff but guess what! Most top 40 music isn’t anymore. Back in the early 00s we had chromatic chart toppers all the time. Musical trends changed and so did Maroon 5. It’s W I L D that they’ve stuck around for over 20 years and remain relevant. Also, we all know Adam Levine without Maroon 5 at this point. He could have went on to have a successful solo career but here he is and here we are. Alright alright, enough praise let’s get to actual music stuff.
Another variation of a I-V-vi-IV progression! Well, kind of. If you listen at the very beginning you get six chord hits. In order they go IV-vi-V, I-I-IV. Now, the middle chord in those sets are passing chords. I believe I’ve explained this topic before but it’s been a while so a passing chord is a chord that we ~pass~ through on the way to get to a more important chord. We don’t spend much time on that vi chord before arriving at the V so really this song is more like a IV-V-I-IV. This progression plays throughout the entirety of the song so the melodies and production do most of the work for keeping this song interesting. Let’s talk about those a little bit.
Adam’s melody in the beginning is strictly pentatonic. There are slight variations on repetitions of the melody which is a great way to keep our attention. An example of this can be found in the first verse by comparing the melody of “oh mama, don’t play now baby” and “said let’s get one thing straight now baby”. Yes, these lyrics aren’t spectacular. Most lyrics are not. Whatevs. “A million songs use pentatonic melodies! Why are you praising Maroon 5 for this if everybody does it?!” First of all, chill out. Second of all, SZA throws a wrench in this by adding non-pentatonic notes to her version of the verse melody. You can hear this at 1:04 with her descending melody. The presentation of one simple idea and then smart adjustments to that idea is what smart songwriting is all about.
AND THEN! As SZA repeats her verse at 1:10, have Mr. Levine sings a harmony. It begins a third above the original melody. This is something you’ll hear all the time especially if you ever come to karaoke with me. Usually, singing a third above the melody sounds great. H O W E V E R! This isn’t what Adam Levine does. He only STARTS with a third above and then jumps down a third below! Adam is essentially singing the notes of the melody but in a different order to create the harmony. Take a peek below to see what I’m talking about.
There’s simple riffs and countermelodies here and there for the remainder of the song. Nothing too special but they don’t need to be. The smart use of repetition has cemented “What Lovers Do”. Or it’s because I’ve been listening to this song nonstop for the past hour to figure out what to write about. Okay, let’s move to the production aspect.
Is it weird that I know the name of Maroon 5's lead guitarist without looking it up? It’s James Valentine. He recently had a gorgeous signature guitar released by Ernie Ball and I occasionally work for bands that are sponsored by Ernie Ball so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Why do I mention this? Well, back in the day Maroon 5 was known as a rock/funk band and not the pop powerhouse that they are now. Their recent hits contain more synthesized elements than the analog instrumentation that we grew fond of from their first record. It’s wild to think that the same artists that created “Harder To Breath” also wrote “Don’t Wanna Know”. Keep in mind, that’s not a knock on the latter song. They’re just sonically very different.
But what if I told you that there were sections of “What Lovers Do” that use ~real~ instruments!? Yes, the song begins with synths and filters. They build and develop as the song progresses like any number of great songs do. This changes as we get to the hook. The chorus starts with Adam’s vocals, drums, bass guitar and electric guitar. Yes, there is an electric guitar playing in unison with the bass and it’s pretty difficult to discern but that’s kind of the great thing about this. Maroon 5 combines traditional instruments to create sonic textures that mimic digital ones. As the chorus repeats, an organ is added in with a harmony on those hits to develop the sound even more. It’s not until we go back to the verse that we get synthesizers. Simple and smart. It might not be the stuff that they used to write but Maroon 5 absolutely know what they’re doing and I can’t imagine that they will slow down any time soon.
Post Malone is STILL at number one followed by Camilla, Ed Sheeran, and Lil Pump. The next new song we have is at number 8 with “No Limit” by G Eazy ft. A$AP Rocky and Cardi B. Is it any good or is it blowing up because people love Cardi B? Find out next week! Same time! Same dang place!
