John Mayer Explains Why New Album is His Best

John Mayer has come a long way from his “No Such Thing” debut on his Room For Squares album.  That single is still one of my favorite songs of all-time.  I love the musicality of it and I could really identify with the lyrics.  Maybe it’s because I’m almost the same exact age as him but there’s something generational about his music and I’m always impressed by how he has been able to reinvent himself every time.

While I loved that one track, Room for Squares was definitely a “starter” album in my opinion and I can’t say that I loved his second effort, Heavier Things.  Sure, he had songs like “Bigger Than My Body” and the amazing, award-winning single “Daughters” but, overall, it just didn’t do much for me.

When he released Continuum, I felt like he really couldn’t have created a better album.  I know a lot of people went crazy over “Waiting on the World to Change” but I felt that it was, musically, one of the less magical tracks although I acknowledge that the lyrics were incredible.  From start to finish, though, Continuum really felt like the story of my own life and, to this day, I regularly listen to the whole thing once or twice a week. 

Now, Mayer is getting ready to release Battle Studies and he says that it will be better than Continuum.  Billboard.com quotes him as saying:  "This record is as different a record from the last one as I am as different a person as I was from the last one.  It sort of takes into account everything from my life without focusing on the media. It’s an absolute return to music.  The part of me that’s essential to writing music and making music is not only still there, but I think has grown even more than the guy who made Continuum.  That’s proof you’re growing up, because I can now look at what I originally thought was a perfect record and tell you what I want to add to it.  Every time you put a record out you’re trying to follow up the story in this series of novels.  You have to sort of put that hero in a new place. If you want to stay being a musician that people care about, I think you have to keep coming back to your diary and going, ‘This is what happened in my life.’"

Battle Studies will be released on November 17, 2009 and I’m really looking forward to picking up a copy!

image: Amazon