Memories (Maroon 5 song)
"Memories" is a song by American pop rock band Maroon 5. It was released through 222 and Interscope Records on September 20, 2019, as the lead single from their upcoming seventh studio album. The song was produced by lead vocalist Adam Levine and production team The Monsters and the Strangerz, and written by Levine, Stefan Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Michael Pollack, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jon Bellion, and Vincent Ford. The song peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's the last single with bassist Mickey Madden, who announced his departure from the band in 2020, following his arrest for domestic violence.
Background
The band's lead singer, Adam Levine explained: "This song is for anyone who has ever experienced loss. In other words, this song is for all of us." It is about the loss of the band's manager and Levine's friend, Jordan Feldstein who died on December 22, 2017, from pulmonary embolism. According to guitarist, James Valentine: "It’s a different kind of song for us…It’s an important song for us. You know, we experienced some loss in the last couple of years. We lost our longtime manager, Jordan Feldstein. We heard the skeleton of this song and thought it matched where we were at."In an interview of The Howard Stern Show, Levine said: "I needed this song", he continued: "In a world that's increasingly chaotic and crazy and angry in a lot of ways... rather than fight about things, it's nice to have a common ground and all of us have had loss... and celebrate them too, which I think it's important".
Composition
"Memories" was written by Adam Levine, Stefan Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Michael Pollack, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jon Bellion and Vincent Ford, and produced by Levine and The Monsters and the Strangerz. The song is based on the harmonic sequence and melody of "Pachelbel's Canon" by Johann Pachelbel.Critical reception
"Memories" received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critcs. Emily Zemler of Rolling Stone wrote that the "reflective, sentimental track... looks back on good times past with someone who's no longer here", describing it as having a "low-key rock sound as frontman Adam Levine pays homage to the memories of a loved one who has since passed." Billboard noted the track is "arranged around light keys, guitars and vocals", calling it "sentimental mellow". Writing for USA Today, Maeve McDermott opined that the song is "primed for end-of-summer nostalgia" and compared Levine's vocals to Sting. Spin magazine and Insider both listed "Memories" as one of the worst songs of 2019, with Insiders Callie Ahlgrim calling it "desperately generic".Chart performance
"Memories" was number one on the US iTunes chart after its release. Since its release, the song peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, until later peaking at number two behind Post Malone's "Circles" and becoming the band's 10th top-five track. With "Memories", Maroon 5 became the second band to have a top-two hit on the Hot 100 in three different decades.At the Pop Songs chart, the song was peaked at number one, becoming their eleventh number one and share the record with female artists Katy Perry and Rihanna, for the most number ones on
the chart. "Memories" also peaked at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks in 2020.
Music videos
Official video
The official music video was released on October 8, 2019 on YouTube. Directed by David Dobkin and shot by cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth. This video is a reminiscent of Sinead O'Connor's music video for "Nothing Compares 2 U". The video shows Adam Levine close to the camera singing in a dark background. It ends with the word "For Jordi", dedicated to Feldstein. As of July 2020, the video has reached over 550 million views.Lyric videos
An animated lyric video of the song was released on November 29, 2019, by the band's YouTube channel. Directed by Andrew S. Cohen and Ryan Kieffer and was created by Confidential Cartoon Studios.The video includes a number of items referencing the band's music videos for other songs: bow tie and toast glasses, blue turtle costume, mural, boxing gloves, scorpion, black leather jacket, the payphone, cherry blossom trees, a red lollipop and butterfly and the Union Flag and the microphone, as well as other items including electric guitar, The Voice cup, Magic 8-Ball, an album cover of Maroon 5's The Studio Albums, two MTV awards features the Moon Man in Video Music Award and the trophy in Europe Music Award, a Grammy Award and iHeartRadio Music Award trophy, tickets and a map of Los Angeles from the band's concerts and their tour bus, the M with a vertex logo from the band's sticker, the letter "V" from the band's fifth album and a collage of photos, all together inside a collection of boxes from the band's memories.
Another lyric video, which is the song's remix version by musician Dillon Francis, was released on his YouTube channel on December 13, 2019. It features a montage of home videos and pictures showing Francis' friend Noel Teacher Mor, with her family including her sister Kelly Teacher and more recent videos such as Francis and Noel are heading to various concerts from Coachella to Las Vegas in the United States. This video is dedicated to Noel, who died of cancer on September 30, 2019.
Other official videos
On September 25, 2019, another music video for the song titled Made with Memories, was released exclusively on Apple Music. It shows a montage of photos with the young Levine and his family, as well as him with his friends are the members of the band and they performed on touring in the world with various concerts.The band released a cover tribute video on December 29, 2019. This video contains more than 57 videos on YouTube, some are the song's cover versions and was performed by fans from around the world including artists: Allie Sherlock, Connor Ball, J.Fla, Davina Michelle and Boyce Avenue.
Promotion
On September 18, 2019, Maroon 5 announced the release of the song with its cover art on social media after posting several collages of photos. The song's cover art was created by Mexican artist, Andreas Hijar. On September 25, the band collaborated with Apple for a feature within the Photos app to promote the track, allowing users to make a montage of their photos set to the song. An advertisement was used with the Dillion Francis remix version appeared on the Shure wireless earphone Aonic 215 and the headphone Aonic 50.Live performances
On October 6, 2019, Maroon 5 performed "Memories" for the first time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which aired on October 7. The following day, band members Levine and Valentine performed an acoustic version of the song on The Howard Stern Show. In December 2019, the band played the song on Red Pill Blues Tour, during the last shows in Doha and Las Vegas. On February 1, 2020, Maroon 5 performed the song at the Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest, a pre-show for Super Bowl LIV in Miami and made a tribute to Kobe Bryant, with his daughter Gianna and seven other victims of the Calabasas helicopter crash. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band performed a remote version of the song in at home edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on May 12, 2020, with Levine dedicated to Bryant.Track listing
Digital download – Original- "Memories" – 3:09
- "Memories" – 6:57
- "Memories" – 3:13
- "Memories" – 2:44
Charts