A year before that, in 2011, Maroon topped the Hot 100 with “ Moves Like Jagger,” a collaboration with fellow Voice judge Christina Aguilera. Before “Girls,” their last one was 2012’s “ One More Night,” a bit of lite-reggae white pop à la Ace of Base that was penned and produced by Max Martin (a man who made his bones with those fellow Swedes in the ’90s) and Martin’s associate Shellback. 1s as Miley Cyrus’ “ Wrecking Ball,” and Starrah, the hook-generating songwriter wunderkind who was on top of the Hot 100 just eight months ago with Camila Cabello’s “ Havana.” But then, this has been true of most of Maroon 5’s four Hot 100 chart-toppers, sprinkled across their career. Well-traveled song doctors are largely responsible for how “Girls Like You” turned out, primary among them Henry “Cirkut” Walter, the Max Martin–affiliated Canadian producer behind such No.
This persona, like virtually everything Maroon 5 has done in the last decade, is itself outsourced. On the chorus, Levine adds his own rhythm, carving out a perkily shimmying beat out of wishy-washy lyrics: “ ’Cause girls … like … you/ Run around with guys … like … me/ Till sundown, when I … come … through/ I need a girl … like … you/ Yeah, yeah, y-yeah.” The song momentarily comes to life late in the game, right after Cardi’s rap, with a final verse that seems like it’s ramping up into a story: “Maybe it’s 6:45/ Maybe I’m barely alive/ Maybe you’ve taken my shit for the last time/ Maybe I know that I’m drunk/ Maybe I know you’re the one/ Maybe I’m thinking it’s better if you drive.” It’s not really a story at all, just a schmear of branding by Levine, living out the lovable asshole character he’s been riding down red carpets for 15 years. In the video, guitarist James Valentine (there, that’s one more Maroon 5 member-no cookie for you) showily plucks out the hook at the start, but if he played more than two bars in the studio before it was looped I’d be shocked. It is pleasant, even winsome: a midtempo love song with ’80s rock seasoning, built around a syncopated guitar line that’s been run through the EDM swooshing machine. 1s.Įven with Cardi’s special sauce, which was only added to the song last May, and all that radio play, “Girls Like You” is a pretty nondescript pop hit. The chart-topper makes Cardi B the first female rapper to score three Hot 100 No. 1: “Girls Like You” spent 16 weeks in the Top 5, and for the last 11 of those weeks it was stuck behind either “Nice” or Drake’s viral Song of the Summer winner “ In My Feelings.” Billboard reports that airplay was the key to Maroon 5’s eventual success, but the video did its part: Now just shy of a billion views, the “Girls” clip gave the song a so-called inspirational push in the year of #MeToo, even though until Cardi B shows up, the cameoing women function largely as backup dancers. 1 by showcasing famous ladies in a video, after Drake’s performatively woke you-go-girl chart-topper “ Nice for What.” Perhaps appropriately, Drake is the chart giant Maroon 5 had to get past to reach No. Oddly, that’s the second time this year a male pop act has boosted a track to No. Ellen will get this, and she’ll really love it.The song was also boosted by its video, which features a Lazy Susan’s array of famous women from Gal Gadot to Sarah Silverman to Ellen DeGeneres, literally rotating in and out of the vicinity of Levine’s mic stand and lip-syncing a line or two of the song. Why don’t we just have all different women sing the song?” I said, “What if I circle you, and every time I circle you it’s another woman?” So Adam said, “Yes, let’s do it. goes, “I see what you’re trying to do, but I think it’d be better if it was women that were. I went to him and said, “Why don’t you not be in the video, and let me do a montage of all these amazing women throughout history? I’ll end with all these women that are running for Congress,” ’cause I’m very proud of what’s happening with the women’s movement. When I heard it was going to be the third video, I was like, I gotta do it. This was my favorite song on the album, and I really was attached to it. He comes to me sometimes with different tracks and we’ll talk about them. How did you get involved in this one specifically?ĭAVID DOBKIN: Adam and I have known each other since 2001, 2002. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is the third Maroon 5 video you’ve directed.