Maroon 5 - V (Basil Karlo)

Although it has its (very) low moments, V is an enjoyable album. It's a very good idea, but the product isn't quite as good as I expected. However, despite most of the album being a huge pile of mediocrity, it does have its good moments (It Was Always You, My Heart Is Open, Lost Stars.) I'd much prefer the album be filled with songs like those and remove Sex and Candy, ShootLove, Sugar, and Feelings. It's still better than Overexposed, though. I can see myself putting this on repeat for a few weeks, despite some of the tracks having 0 replay value. It's not really as bad as I think I'm saying it is, but it's not very good. I don't mind it that much. I think I'm just rambling on now, so I think I'll get to the point. It's a very nice try and I wouldn't mind their future albums sounding like this, but the final product isn't very great. 6.7/10

Track-by-Track

• Maps: This... this is alright. It's not very good, but it's not terrible. It's probably one of their least interesting lead singles. I really prefer Payphone to this, as this is sort of boring. It's not really lead single material, more like third/fourth single material (but Daylight and LS were both better than this). 6/10
• Animals: I prefer this a lot more than Maps. 31 seconds in and I'm already drawn in. I'd probably give this a solid ten, but there's one problem. And it's a huge problem. These lyrics are terrible. "I'm praying on you tonight, hunt you down eat you alive"? It's still really catchy though, so I don't mind the lyrics much. 8/10
• It Was Always You: I loved this the first time I downloaded it on iTunes. And I still do. It's amazing, with it's 80s-ish vibe. It's not very lyrically strong, but it's a lot better than Animals or Maps. I don't understand why this wasn't the second single. Hell, it would have been a good lead single as well. I really feel as if this could have been as big as One More Night, but whatever. 10/10.
• Unkiss Me: Unlike some other tracks, this album listen was the first time I've heard this song. Holy. ****. This is good. It sounds pretty generic, but I still love it! It sounds a lot like IWAY. It's way better than Maps! (by the way, most of this review will probably consist of me whining about how ****** Maps is.) This really surprised me, by the title I thought it would be pretty bad. 9.5/10
• Sugar: Uh, what. No. This is pretty bad. It's worse than Maps. This sounds like a ripoff of Birthday, which by itself is pretty terrible. The instrumental isn't even good, unlike the previous three tracks. At 1:44 into my first listen of the song right now, I can already tell this is terrible. 3/10
• Leaving California: Having listened to this prior to listening to the full album, I already knew this was good. It's another song that sounds like IWAY, and I honestly don't have a problem with this. I'd rather have an album full of IWAYs rather than an album full of Love Somebodys (*coughoverexposedcough*) But listening to this again, it's a lot better than I remember on first listen. (the other half of this review will probably consist of me nonstop-praising IWAY, by the way.) 9/10
• In Your Pocket: Just based off the intro, I'm not sure how I feel about this song. I feel like I've heard it before, and I like it. But I don't like it that much. I like it on a Maps-scale. I'm not sure if I quite follow the lyrics, though...? I just don't keep up with them. 6/10
• New Love: Eh... this isn't good. I don't dislike it at all. I just don't know how I feel about it. The verses are pretty bad, but everything besides that is pretty good. The verses are bad enough to make me almost dislike this, though. I'd probably give this a 5.5/10
• Coming Back For You: Again, another IWAY-sounding track. It sort of gets old after four tracks, but I don't mind it so much. (especially after New Love and Sugar.) I don't really have much to say about this. 7/10
• Feelings: Again, this isn't good. This is one of the two songs so far I legitimately dislike. I don't like the vocals on the chorus that much, but that isn't a problem. I just don't like the whole vibe this track give off. It's not catchy, either. 3/10
• My Heart Is Open (feat. Gwen Stefani): Right off the bat, it sort of reminds me of "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles. It sort of trails of into what is sort of generic, then, but it's not that generic. It reminds me a lot of recent ballads, namely Say Something and Just Give Me A Reason. This is honestly great. I generally try to give one 10 per album, but this, Ghost Stories, and X (Ed) are the rare cases where I think I'm going to give multiple tens. Adam and Gwen shine equally on this duet. This is truly amazing. Thank you for releasing this, Maroon 5. As I've said... 10/10
• ShootLove: I can definitely see why this was a bonus track. It's pretty bad. Bad on the level of Feelings and Sugar. 3.5/10
• Sex and Candy: I sort of like the vibe this is giving off, but it's not very good. I don't know why, but I just can't stand this. 4/10
• Lost Stars: Reading some other reviews on here, I really don't get the hate for this song. This is probably my favourite song on the album! I like the chilled-out feel to it, and it's REALLY catchy. I didn't expect it to be that great, considering it's from a soundtrack, but I love this. As I've said before, this is probably one of the only albums where I give multiple tens. I just don't get the hate for this... 10/10

(this was taken from my V review located here.)