Maroon 5 Go Crate Digging With Gloves On

Maroon 5 – Credit: Hugh Lippe*

After two decades of pop ubiquity, Maroon 5 are digging deeper into the crate than expected on their eighth album. Love Is Like weaves a surprising number of Seventies funk, soul, and R&B samples into their sleek pop sound — Barbara Stant’s 1972 obscurity “You Know I Love You,” Loleatta Holloway’s storming “I Know Where You’re Coming From,” and the Festivals’ forgotten B side “Take Your Time,” to name a few. The selections do more than nod to the group’s blue-eyed-soul roots; they feel like earnest tributes. Yet in trying to smuggle these unruly sounds into a radio-ready Trojan horse, the record feels like searching for buried treasure with gloves on — ambitious, but careful not to get dirt under its fingernails.

The album sails in on the breezy piano hook of “Hideaway,” as Adam Levine exudes his trademark ease. The sax-touched “All Night” and the strutting “Yes I Did” are similarly smooth. “Jealousy Problems” leans on the sinewy funk of Black Heat’s 1975 “Zimba Ku,” with Levine clearly enjoying the role of summer scoundrel, singing “I know this behavior is beneath us both.… I kinda like this dysfunction.” And Lil Wayne rescues the title track with an endearingly dumb marriage proposal (“Your love is like dope/Got me twisted like a rope/Let’s elope”) as he rides atop Valerie Simpson’s classic “Silly Wasn’t I.”

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The best moments are when the pop polish sounds like it’s wearing off. Guitarist James Valentine slips in a few unshackled jags on the big single “Priceless,” which rides a catchy, scratchy guitar groove (supposedly based on a Levine iPhone voice memo) alongside Blackpink’s Lisa. Historically, Maroon 5’s pop-diva pairings (Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion) have yielded mutual wins that showcased the band’s adaptability. Here, though, the guest spots underwhelm. Lisa should be a natural fit, but she’s mixed too anonymously into the sonic wallpaper — a wasted opportunity. Sexyy Red fares better, barreling through “I Like It” with disco strings at her back and personality that can tilt the room. You half wish someone had just asked her and Lisa to cover “Summer Breeze” and call it a day.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a Maroon 5 yacht-rock era, but the impulse toward immaculate control can make the songs feel as if the band has dropped anchor five feet from the dock. Thankfully, Ryan Tedder and Marshmello are below deck to deliver the goods on a few straight-up pop bonus tracks. Tedder’s “Cigarettes” and Marshmello’s buoyant romp “Closer” prove Maroon 5 can still pick the sure thing when the stars align.

The closer of the original album, “California,” remains the luminous standout. The band sets aside the winks and retro affectations for something unadorned and honest. “I’m paralyzed and weak here on my own,” Levine sings. Maroon 5 have long been deft shape-shifters. But their musical soul has always been Levine’s voice — that curious instrument, capable of sounding utterly detached one minute and heartbreakingly exposed the next. When it allows in vulnerability, it becomes the one thing you want to believe.

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