It was written by three people, all members of Maroon 5: Levine, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, and bassist Mickey Madden. 1 hits but haven’t yet mentioned the first of those four: “ Makes Me Wonder,” a tasty slice of ’70s-inflected disco rock with Earth, Wind & Fire smooth-funk overtones that topped the chart in the spring of 2007. Not always better, and certainly not “purer”-their ’00s hits had their share of producer-driven sweetening for radio consumption-but ’00s Maroon 5 is the sound of a rock band crafting something that then gets run through the machine, not a product born in the machine.
I say 2010s, however, because Maroon 5 have been hit-makers since the 2000s, and the careful ear can detect a difference: They were more like a self-contained rock band in their first decade. 1 by showcasing famous ladies in a video. Oddly, this is the second time this year a male pop act has boosted a track to No. On all of these chart-toppers, Levine takes a songwriting credit and surely had some role in how the lyrics, attitude, and overall #branding turned out, but if you know anything about the Swedish/American school of 21 st-century factory pop, the fingerprints of these Svengalis is all over Maroon 5’s 2010s output. That whistle-infused earworm, now playing in the ninth circle of hell, was co-crafted by Shellback again with fellow über pop producer–slash- oddball Benny Blanco. 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. 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.
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