Maps of Music

Red Pill Blues (2017)

Where the lyrics of Red Pill Blues take you, and where it was really made.

The album title comes from a choice between two pills in the 1999 film The Matrix, not from any song on the record.

Key places

Where the sixth album was recorded (2017)

Recording site Conway Recording Studios — The band recorded new material for the sixth album at this studio in Los Angeles, California, after a short North American tour in March 2017. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Red Pill Blues: sixth studio album by American band Maroon 5
• Released November 3, 2017 through 222 and Interscope Records
• Follow-up to the fifth studio album V (2014)
• Guest appearances from Kendrick Lamar, Julia Michaels, SZA, ASAP Rocky, LunchMoney Lewis, Future and Cardi B
• First album with multi-instrumentalist Sam Farrar as an official member, though he had featured on every earlier release and toured with the band since 2012
• Final album with bassist Mickey Madden as a full member, making it the band's only album as a seven-piece
• Title refers to the science fiction choice of the red pill or the blue pill, from the 1999 film The Matrix

Background

• The band toured for over three years in support of V before planning a follow-up
• After a short rescheduled headlining tour of North America in March 2017, the band recorded new material for the sixth album at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California
• Teaser gifs and videos of members in the studio were posted on social media in late March 2017
• At the 2017 Teen Choice Awards on August 13, Maroon 5 received the Decade Award; frontman Adam Levine confirmed the November release there
• The album name was revealed on October 4, 2017, and pre-orders opened on October 6
• Levine described the album as a cousin to the band's debut Songs About Jane (2002), with the two albums bookending the records in between

Cover

• Cover art by American photographer Travis Schneider, inspired by filters on the Snapchat app
• Shows all seven members on polaroid photographs with a filter on their faces
• Levine said the band wanted more straightforward band photos with a little fun added

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed as Kara's Flowers in Los Angeles, California, in 1994 while members attended Brentwood School.
• Released the independent album ...We Like Digging? in late 1994 and signed to Reprise Records, releasing The Fourth World (1997), which sold around 5,000 copies before the band was dropped.
• Re-emerged in 2001 as Maroon 5 after signing to Octone Records and adding guitarist James Valentine.
• Debut album Songs About Jane (2002) peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005.

Members

• Current lineup: Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, James Valentine, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton, Sam Farrar.
• Ryan Dusick left in 2006 and was replaced by Flynn.
• Mickey Madden left in 2020 after a domestic violence arrest; the case was dropped without charges and Farrar replaced him.

Career

• It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007) debuted atop the US Billboard 200; "Makes Me Wonder" topped the Billboard Hot 100.
• "Moves Like Jagger" (2011) reached US number one; "One More Night" topped the Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks in 2012.
• Maroon 5 has sold more than 135 million records and won three Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards.
• Headlined the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in 2019 and ran a Las Vegas residency from 2023 to 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Red Pill Blues received mixed reviews from music critics on release
• Metacritic: 58/100 based on eight reviews, indicating 'mixed or average reviews'
• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): after setting aside the title and cover, the album reads as a sleek, assured affair with a seductive neon-streaked mood, and its modern sheen rests on strong song foundations
• Entertainment Weekly (Madison Vain): called it the best and most cohesive set of the decade, credited to collaborations with Hot 100 guests that leave hardly a stale moment
• Rolling Stone (Jon Dolan): found Adam Levine capable in the Top 40 old soul role and working well alongside younger talent
• Billboard (Taylor Weatherby): said the record presents the most electronic production the band has seen to date, in classic Maroon 5 fashion, and praised the collaborations
• Financial Times (Ludovic Hunter-Tilney): said the album still makes its way through a minefield of suggestive lyrics, helped by smooth high vocals, catchy tunes and deft production
• Pitchfork (Jayson Greene): praised the group's touch with soft rock on Best 4 U but found the album's lack of libido made it hard to finish
• The Guardian (Michael Hann): noted impeccably structured pop songs on Help Me Out but said the record is not an R&B album in any remotely experimental way
• The Times (Will Hodgkinson): described the album as unpretentious and actually quite fun despite vacuous music and words
• Slant Magazine (Zachary Hoskins): said Maroon 5 rebranded themselves with a retro sound that suits them, while the record still has bland, underachieving pop moments

Records

• US Billboard 200 debut at number two with 122,000 album-equivalent units, 94,000 of them pure album sales, the band's sixth top ten album in the country
• Kept off the top spot by Sam Smith's The Thrill of It All
• By year end, 596,000 album-equivalent units in the US, with 185,000 pure sales
• RIAA Platinum certification on May 17, 2018, for over 1,000,000 combined units in the US
• Australia: opened at number seven on the ARIA Albums Chart, the band's sixth top ten album there
• Canada: entered the Canadian Albums Chart at number two, the band's sixth top five entry there
• New Zealand: debuted at number six
• UK: debuted at number 12 on the UK Albums Chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title comes from the choice between the red pill and the blue pill, a science fiction idea that originated in the 1999 film The Matrix.
• The band held a concert at the iHeartRadio Theater in Burbank, California, on November 7, 2017, to commemorate the album's release.
• The promotional single 'Wait' was first released as the third promotional single on October 31, before it became the album's fourth single.
• The remix of 'Girls Like You' with Cardi B was the first single from the re-release of the album and its most successful single, reaching number one on the Hot 100 for seven weeks.
• The Japanese edition adds bonus tracks, and a separate bonus CD collects remixes of songs from the album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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