“Payphone” is a song performed by the pop/rock band Maroon 5. The song was released in April 2012, as the lead single from their upcoming fourth studio album Overexposed (2012). It features Philly rapper Wiz Khalifa. It was written by Adam Levine, Benny Blanco, Ammar Malik, Shellback, Dan Omelio and Wiz Khalifa. The song is a pop ballad and it talks about a romance that is no more. The mid-tempo song finds Adam lamenting a deteriorating relationship and Wiz verse talks about how regretful the unlucky lady will be for walking away. The song’s title comes from Levine’s line: “I’m at a payphone / trying to call home / all of my change I spent on you.” The song has received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the catch melody and named it “a radio success”. Some critics dismissed Wiz Khalifa’s appearance and its title. After the initial relative commercial failure of their album Hands All Over (2010), produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange, Maroon 5 turned in a distinctly more pop direction with producers Shellback and Benny Blanco for the massive hit single “Moves Like Jagger“ (2011). The song, which features Christina Aguilera, was credited for re-energizing the sales of the album, besides being the band’s second number-one single in the United States. After that, they began writing and recording a new album during their latest world tour and announced that the album is called Overexposed and that it will be released on June 26, 2012. Check out the official music video for “Payphone” below after the jump…
Video Synopsis: In April 2012, paparazzi and other people around the neighborhood spotted Levine shooting the video, making a call from a Los Angeles phone booth. He was also fleeing from the police with a female and speeding away in a classic sports car. In the video above, Maroon 5′s frontman Adam Levine plays a bank worker who gets robbed at work. However, he doesn’t play the victim, he takes matters into his own hands, taking the robber’s gun and running out of the building with his female co-worker. In the process, he steals Wiz Khalifa’s vintage car and takes off, leading the police on a dangerous high-speed chase through the California desert.
The song kicks off with Adam Levine performing an upper register read through of the chorus backed by a simple keyboard. On the chorus, he sings: “I’m at a payphone trying to call home / All of my change I’ve spent on you / Where have the times gone, baby / It’s all wrong, where are the plans we made for two? / If happy ever after did exist / I would still be holding you like this / All those fairytales are full of it / One more stupid love song / I’ll be sick”. Some song lyric websites, for example, have the line “Where are the plans we made for two?” changed to “We’re at the place we made for two”, among other differences. Following the verse, the full band kicks in on the chorus and the song’s sadness seeps through. When Wiz serves his verse, his rhymes don’t speak of his love life, but rather his haters. He Raps, “I’ll be out spending all this money while you sittin’ ’round wondering why it wasn’t you who came up from nothin’ / Made it from the bottom now when you see me I’m stuntin’.” “Payphone“ has a plodding, piano-heavy production with martial drumming and a dramatic chorus. It also features throbbing bass on the hook that gives the song the hint of a disco edge. Lyrically, it explores the way a relationship used to be and the way they no longer are.
Lyric Video Synopsis: A lyric video was released in April 2012. The clip is designed to look like an animated graphic novel and features a cartoon of frontman Adam Levine. The video opens with the marker-sketched Levine gazing at a photo of a former love wistfully while sitting on top of a payphone, then crumpling it up in a blue-tinged flame of anger at the chorus. The dark-haired gent looks back on his relationship, perhaps revising history, making himself into a hero: fighting monsters, rescuing hapless old women from muggers, etc. He envisions himself and his former love nearly kissing and in front of the Eiffel Tower, but she fades each time his lyrics get jaded. Wiz appears in a hoodie, acting as cartoon Levine’s crime-fighting sidekick.
Valentine also said that Maroon 5 has “tons of material” available, including hold overs from the Mutt Lange-co-produced “Hands All Over” and songs the quintet has written since then. “I think everybody’s been pretty busy compiling ideas for the next one,” he says. “With technology and the recording capacity we have on our laptops, we can be a little more prolific while we’re [touring]. We’ve never been able to do that before. I think we could go in and make a record today and have a pretty solid album.” Do you think that Wiz Khalifa should’ve gotten more press time out of his guest appearance on the video and song? Let me know below…
