4.8.12 - New Music - Maroon 5 and Rozzi Crane

When artists step away from what they are well known for and try something new, it is often times met with mixed results. Some can pull it off, and others are laughed off the stage. Gwen Stefani managed two highly successful bubblegum pop albums after being the frontwoman of rock/alternative/ska band No Doubt for a decade, while Lil Wayne’s rock album ‘Rebirth’ was essentially a joke. You never know how these things will play out until you take a chance and try them.

Whether it works or not, I am usually in favor of artists trying something new, as long as they don’t abandon and forget what got them where they are now (and who – it has to be all about the fans!). I may hate the finished product, but I can respect that it took balls to venture into uncharted territory, and this often goes unmentioned.

For these reasons, I would like to single out Maroon 5’s contribution to the Hunger Games soundtrack, a song called “Come Away To The Water (ft. Rozzi Crane)”. The song itself is a radical departure from anything the group has ever done before, and I think it is really fascinating. When you put this up next to their Christina Aguilera-assisted megahit “Moves Like Jagger” (which has since become the 13th best-selling digital single in history), you can’t even tell they are the same group.

While I certainly praise the song, don’t think I am giving Maroon 5 all the credit here. The song is obviously heavily influenced from others today. The sparse music and the vocals couldn’t be more indicative of Bon Iver if they tried, and the theme of the lyrics and general tone of the song is probably a grab from Florence + the Machine’s “What The Water Gave Me”. Plus, who is Rozzi Crane?

Anyways, while I am not saying that Maroon 5 should get an award for originality, the song itself is still really pretty well done, and extremely fitting for the film (which I know nothing about, but I can assume). T-Bone Burnett put the soundtrack together, so you know (without even listening) that it is amazing.