Please, Sir, May I Have Some Mayer?
It’s always so refreshing to see a performer evolve and mature—a more organic and therefore more welcome process to witness than the “re-inventingâ€of an artist—and one who’s doing/done just that is singer John Mayer. His transformation over the past four years or so nicely demonstrates that it’s better to surprise (with your talent) than to shock (with your image).
I remember hearing his first hit single “No Such Thing†back when it was released in April 2002 (and featured on both his 1999 independent release, Inside Wants Out, and then again on the 2001 disc, Room For Squares). It was a catchy tune and he had a curiously appealing voice. I also soon discovered that he wasn’t too hard on the eyes, either. Those lips, those eyes!
But with the arrival of his next single, Your Body Is A Wonderland, my interest in the young singer began to wane. It’s not that it was a bad song just one that radio (and music video programs) played to death. Given his good looks, the song and the playfully romantic video, it’s no surprise really that a wee bit of over-exposure resulted from its success.
He returned in 2003 with the Heavier Things CD. The lead-off single, “Bigger Than My Bodyâ€, was one of my favorite tunes of that year; listening to it, there was a good sense of the new direction he was heading in musically. The beautiful “Daughters†was further proof of what the singer was capable of.
I must say I found myself quite curious when in 2005 John Mayer the soloist was suddenly the John Mayer Trio, with the release of the disc Try! Had Mayer thrown in the towel as a solo performer? And while again I admired such a bold move on his part—for not allowing himself to be trapped by the easy success of following a familiar formula—for whatever reason, I didn’t pick up the CD or check out JMT in concert when they came to town. I especially regret the latter since who’s to say if or when they’ll tour again.
In the meantime, I can always pick up the JMT disc, especially now that I’ve fallen in love with Mayer’s latest release, the brilliant, thoughtful, soulful and soul-filling Continuum. His voice has never sounded better and the music and songwriting (all songs written by him with the exception of the Jimi Hendrix penned “Bold As Loveâ€) is of a quality that you can’t help but to be blissfully distracted by while attempting to do something else at the same time–oh, like write a blog entry, for example…(ha ha).
His hair is also longer than I’ve ever seen it; you know, of a wavy length that makes you want to reach out and run your fingers through it. And as his hair has grown, so too has the artist. I can’t wait to see what he’ll do next.
Cheers!
S.R.
