Love Is Like

マルーン5待望の8枚目のスタジオアルバム『Love Is Like』が、発売となります。パーカッシブでジャズコードのデイドリームを彷彿とさせるヒット曲「Priceless ft. LISA」、そしてサックスとスラップベースを効かせたファンクポップの新曲「All Night」を収録。マルーン5は、キャッチーでダイナミック、そしてサウンド的にも野心的な新作アルバムで、彼らの特徴的なサウンドをさらに進化させています。

Maroon 5s eighth studio album, 2025s Love Is Like, nicely underscores their reputation as purveyors of sleek and dancey, falsetto-steeped soul-pop. Its a vibe theyve made their calling card since at least the late 2010s after "Moves Like Jagger" elevated them into the upper echelon of global fame. Since then, theyve adopted a broader stylistic approach, experimenting with electronic music, hip-hop, and sundry sugary pop trends. In some ways, Love Is Like is a return to the core soul and R&B influences that marked the bands early albums, a change that finds singer Adam Levine and bassist Sam Farrar largely taking the productions reins, along with contributions by JKash, Federico Vindver, Elof Loelv, Bobby Love, and Rio Root. The group also wrote a handful of the songs together for the first time in many album cycles. All of this lends the record a unified vibe that feels considerably more pared down than some of their previous guest- and track-heavy productions. Cuts like the opening "Hideaway," the clubby "All Night," and "My Love" have a vinyl-era throwback quality, evoking the classic 70s blue-eyed soul that Maroon 5 initially based their own groove-oriented anthems around. Even when they do join forces with guests, including Lil Wayne on the title track and Sexyy Red on the early-90s hip-hop-infused "Love Is Like," they achieve a buoyantly organic, feel-good energy. Most prominent is "Priceless" a flirty jam with BlackPinks LISA that finds the band believably fusing a 2020s K-pop hookiness with the organic club-soul of their classic Songs About Jane era. ~ Matt Collar

25年近く活動歴を持つ彼らが、2002年のデビュー作『Songs About Jane』のルーツに舞い戻り、オーガニックなバンド・サウンドに回帰。BLACKPINKのリサ、リル・ウェイン、セクシー・レッドらゲスト陣も駆けつけるが、ブレることなくシルキーなブルーアイド・ソウル/R&B路線を邁進。薄味なので聴き流しそうだが、この軽やかさは聴くたびに味わいを増しそうだ。
bounce (C)村上ひさし