Ahead of their set at Audacy’s We Can Survive, Adam Levine and James Valentine of Maroon 5 sat down for a chat with Bru to discuss everything from new music coming in 2024, extending their Vegas residency, that special "scent" of New York, and more.
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Talking about their time in Vegas, Adam shared, “because there aren’t too many bands there,” they “weren’t sure” at first about how a residency would pan out. “Because we just kinda go and play, we don’t have many bells and whistles. And we had to figure out how to exist in the Vegas world and still have something that was compelling and fun… And I think we did.”
Not sure if they were going to hate it or love it “because it was this weird new thing,” luckily it turned out to be the latter. “I think when you spend your life traveling and going to everyone which is fun," Adam added, “it’s kind of rad to have everybody come to you.”
“And everybody’s there to have a good time,” James chimed in, “the energy’s great.”
Discussing their most recent release “Middle Ground” featuring Mickey Guyton, Adam shared how the collaboration came about.
“It was pretty organic, we thought it just needed kind of a female touch. And she’s just such an interesting figure in music as well, and we just thought it’d be cool… We reach out and she said ‘let’s do it,’ and I was like ‘cool, here we go,’ and we did it. It was really simple and easy.”
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Fun Fact — in addition to their residency continuing next year, Adam and James shared 2024 will also bring new music. As for the music they’ve already released, Bru clued the fellas in that “Memories” happens to be Maroon 5's most streamed song to date, before asking them to share if there’s a particular scent they’ve encountered that bring brings back good memories. Noting that he himself was recently “walking down the street… and I got a scent and it took me back to recess.”
Having returned to New York after a long time away, Adam said, “New York has a scent, some call it a scent, a stench… an odor, a feeling,” continuing on to note how much they love the city and spending time there.
Before concluding the conversation, Adam share some ways and tips he uses to manage his mental health. “For me at this points it’s just 100% about my family, just being with my family, being with my wife and kids, and just being kind of away from everything. Being able to completely detach from the insanity of the world, and that is what keeps me, personally, going.”
“Meditation has been really helpful for me,” James shared, “finding that later in life has really helped and I recommend people check that out. There’s lot of ways to do it, but it’s really effective.”
The two also unitedly shared that, “physical fitness,” is also another tool they use, listing off “tennis,” “pickle ball,” and “basketball.”
For all that and more, check out the entire interview above.