This ain’t rock. This ain’t country. This is John Mayer. And, yes, he did it again.
John Mayer, notorious for his egotistical brashness and profoundly crude words and acknowledgements, is seen through a different scope. He seems to have transformed while writing this album, which some critics are calling his best album to date. This new, mature John has an appreciative and reflective outlook on life.
After expressing controversial remarks in interviews with "Playboy" and "Rolling Stone" magazines, Mayer took a two-year hiatus from the "neon" lights and buildings with scaffolding to experience a nature-filled paradise where "Born and Raised" was, well, born and raised.
Mayer incorporates new elements of '70s folk and Americana into his classic blues, rock and soul sound while still keeping his identifiable sound.
Big John Mayer fans know he likes to integrate his world-famous guitar-shredding skills into melodic, hypnotic solos some could even find annoying. This album is different — no two-minute guitar solos can be found in “Where’s Waldo."
This album begins with the song “The Queen of California,” in which he expresses his happiness to have a certain lady out of his life who was bringing him down and his return to a cheerful, positive way of life. “Age of Worry” says life is too short to worry, and you should live your life because you've only got one to live — basically, YOLO.
Some say "Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967" is John’s best song to date. It tells a folklore tale about a man named Walt Grace who rode in a homemade submarine. His family never had faith in him to build a boat and sail it, but one day, his wife gets a call about his death at sea.
"Born and Raised" was released at the perfect time, amid all of the new party songs being released this summer. This album will take listeners on a trip into Mayer’s heart and allow them to reflect on life’s ups and downs, just as John did while composing this exceptional and unique work.
Article comments
at 11:58 p.m.
heartoflife77: Maria, You might want to listen to Walt Grace again. He didn't die at sea, but made it to Tokyo. His wife was expecting him to die, but she received "the call she never expected, when the operator connected the call from Tokyo." It's a brilliant album!
at 6:13 p.m.
ShantelleS: Walt Grace is a brilliant song and NO it does not speak definitively about what happened in the end/in Tokyo. It has been surmised that pessimists believe Walt died while optimists believe he lived; the vagueness is what reflects John's writing genius on this song. And Age of Worry should not be made synonymous with that trite hipster slang YOLO; the song encourages people to relax and not take themselves so seriously where the connotative meaning of YOLO is that you should kill yourself in the pointless pursuits.
at 9:46 p.m.
Maria Di Bianca: I just interpreted Walk Grace in a different way- sorry! With YOLO, that slang term does NOT point to the referencing of killing yourself- plus I used it lightheartedly. Thank you for your input, though!
at 6:10 p.m.
Kate: John Mayer is one of the wonders of the world.
at 10:24 a.m.
Zack: Walt Grace lives.
at 1:53 p.m.
Tim: If his wife didn't have any faith in him, she would have expected him to be killed in the endeavour. Instead she accepted, the news she hadn't expected from the call from Tokyo. Hence he made it alive. It is probably his best song written to date.