Memories (Maroon 5 song)

"Memories" is a song by American band Maroon 5, released through 222 and Interscope Records on September 20, 2019.
Lyrically, the song pays homage to the memories of a loved one who has since passed. The song is based on "Canon in D Major" by German composer Johann Pachelbel. It was produced by lead vocalist Adam Levine and production team the Monsters and the Strangerz, and written by Levine, Stefan Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Michael Pollack, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jon Bellion, and Vincent Ford. The single peaked at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart.
It is Maroon 5's last single with bassist Mickey Madden, who announced his departure from the band in 2020, following his arrest for domestic violence.
Background and release.
The band's lead singer, Adam Levine explained: "This song is for anyone who has ever experienced loss. In other words, this song is for all of us." The song is based on the loss of the band's manager and Levine's friend, Jordan Feldstein who died on December 22, 2017, from pulmonary embolism. According to guitarist, James Valentine: "It’s a different kind of song for us…It’s an important song for us. You know, we experienced some loss in the last couple of years. We lost our longtime manager, Jordan Feldstein. We heard the skeleton of this song and thought it matched where we were at."
In an interview of "The Howard Stern Show", Levine said: "I needed this song", he continued: "In a world that's increasingly chaotic and crazy and angry in a lot of ways... rather than fight about things, it's nice to have a common ground and all of us have had loss... [It's about loss] and celebrate them too, which I think it's important".
"Memories" was released on September 20, 2019. Maroon 5 released three remix versions of the song, featuring Dillon Francis on December 13, 2019, followed by Devault (December 16), and Cut Copy (December 18), respectively. A 7-inch vinyl single was released on Record Store Day (October 24, 2020), which includes the song, the Dillon Francis remix and a 20-page photo & lyric booklet.
Composition.
"Memories" was written by Adam Levine, Stefan Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Michael Pollack, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Jon Bellion and Vincent Ford, and produced by Levine and the Monsters and the Strangerz. The song is based on the harmonic sequence and melody of "Canon in D" by Johann Pachelbel. The song is in the key of B major, and Levine's vocals span from D#4 to the high note of G#5.
Critical reception.
"Memories" received mixed-to-positive reviews from music critcs. Emily Zemler of "Rolling Stone" wrote that the "reflective, sentimental track ... looks back on good times past with someone who's no longer here", describing it as having a "low-key rock sound as frontman Adam Levine pays homage to the memories of a loved one who has since passed." "Billboard" noted the track is "arranged around light keys, guitars and vocals", calling it "sentimental [and] mellow". Writing for "USA Today", Maeve McDermott opined that the song is "primed for end-of-summer nostalgia" and compared Levine's vocals to Sting. "Spin" magazine and "Insider" both listed "Memories" as one of the worst songs of 2019, with "Insider"s Callie Ahlgrim calling it "desperately generic".
Chart performance.
"Memories" debuted at number 22 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, until later peaking at number two behind Post Malone's "Circles" and becoming the band's 10th top-five track and 15th top ten track. With "Memories", Maroon 5 became the second band (the other is the Rolling Stones) to have a top-two hit on the Hot 100 in three different decades (2000s, 2010s and 2020s). It was placed in 2020, at number eight as the year's top "Billboard" Hot 100 song.
At Adult Top 40 chart, the song peaked at number one, becoming their fourteenth number one on the chart. "Memories" also peaked at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on for 20 weeks in 2020.
Music videos.
Official video.
The official music video was released on October 8, 2019, on YouTube. Directed by David Dobkin and shot by cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth. This video is a reminiscent of Sinead O'Connor's music video for "Nothing Compares 2 U" (1990). The video shows Adam Levine close to the camera singing in front of a dark background. It ends with the words "For Jordi", which are a dedication to Feldstein.
Lyric videos.
An animated lyric video of the song was released on November 29, 2019, by the band's YouTube channel. Directed by Andrew S. Cohen and Ryan Kieffer and was created by the animated production company Confidential Cartoon Studios. The lyric video starts in a attic with the Maroon 5 memory box to include a number of items referencing the band's music videos for other songs: mural ("Three Little Birds"), Union Flag and the microphone ("Moves Like Jagger" featuring Christina Aguilera), bow tie and toast glasses ("Sugar"), scorpion ("Wait"), black leather jacket ("Misery"), cherry blossom trees ("This Love"), blue turtle costume ("Don't Wanna Know" featuring Kendrick Lamar), the payphone ("Payphone" featuring Wiz Khalifa and "Wake Up Call"), white boxing gloves ("One More Night") and a red lollipop and butterfly ("What Lovers Do" featuring SZA), along with a collection of boxes. Scenes with the map of Los Angeles from the band's concerts and their tour bus. Other items in the video including an album cover art of the band's "The Studio Albums" (2016), "The Voice" cup, Magic 8-Ball, electric guitar, two MTV awards features the Moon Man in Video Music Award and the trophy in Europe Music Award, a Grammy Award and iHeartRadio Music Award trophy, tickets and the M with a vertex logo from the band's coloured stickers, the letter "V" from the band's fifth album and a collage of photos from when the band was known as Kara's Flowers, all together only inside a collection of items appeared from the box.
Another lyric video, which is the song's remix version by musician Dillon Francis, was released on his YouTube channel on December 13, 2019. It features a montage of home videos and pictures showing Francis' friend Noel Teacher Mor, with her family including her sister Kelly Teacher and more recent videos such as Francis and Noel are heading to various concerts from Coachella to Las Vegas in the United States. This video is dedicated to Noel, who died of cancer on September 30, 2019.
Other official videos.
On September 25, 2019, another music video for the song titled "Made with Memories", was released exclusively on Apple Music. It shows a montage of photos with the young Levine and his family, as well as him with his friends are the members of the band and they performed on touring in the world with various concerts.
The band released a cover tribute video on December 29, 2019. This video contains more than 57 videos on YouTube, some are the song's cover versions and was performed by fans from around the world including artists: Allie Sherlock, Connor Ball (of the Vamps), J.Fla, Davina Michelle and Boyce Avenue.
Live performances.
On October 6, 2019, Maroon 5 performed "Memories" for the first time on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", which aired on October 7. The following day, band members Levine and Valentine performed an acoustic version of the song on "The Howard Stern Show". In December 2019, the band played the song on Red Pill Blues Tour, during the last shows in Doha and Las Vegas. On February 1, 2020, Maroon 5 performed the song at the "Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest", a pre-show for Super Bowl LIV in Miami and made a tribute to Kobe Bryant, with his daughter Gianna and seven other victims of the Calabasas helicopter crash. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band performed a remote version of the song in at home edition of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on May 12, 2020, with Levine dedicated to Bryant.
Track listing.
Digital download – Original
Digital download – Dillon Francis Remix
Digital download – Devault Remix
Digital download – Cut Copy Remix