By Samantha Roberts
Staff Writer
John Mayer’s seventh studio album “The Search for Everything,” was released on April 14. With each and every song written by Mayer himself, the album is a return to the soulful songwriter’s pop and rock ‘n’ roll roots.
The album, which was released in two waves of four songs before its full April release, contains hits reminiscent of his glory days in the early-mid 2000s.
Specifically, “Love on the Weekend,” a single to come from the first wave of songs released, has a similar sound to Mayer’s album “Room for Squares,” which includes hits “Your Body Is A Wonderland” and “Back to You.”
“Love on the Weekend” is about a weekend getaway between two lovers and how it is to get caught up in love after time apart. Mayer feels himself falling for the subject, saying, “I hate your guts ’cause I'm loving every minute of it,” an ode to “the old John Mayer” who famously sang about fighting his feelings in “Gravity,” one of his biggest hits of all time.
“The Search for Everything” is very much an album about love and losing love. Songs like “Still Feel Like Your Man,” which is rumored to be about his ex Katy Perry, “Moving On and Getting Over” and “You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me” are deeply personal and discuss the difficulties of getting over a relationship. Many have said that “The Search for Everything” is Mayer’s most intimate album to date.
“You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me” is different stylistically from much of Mayer’s past work. The song, which is simple in its sound, has deep lyrics about an intense, all-consuming love.
Mayer sings, “Parts of me were made by you, And planets keep their distance too. The moon's got a grip on the sea,” implying that no matter the distance between the two lovers, they will always be intertwined and have a “grip” on one another. Although the two lovers will not reunite romantically, Mayer acknowledges that this love is so deep that it will live forever in his own heart. Mayer has no ill will towards this ex-lover, instead he alludes to his presence at her wedding day: “And when the pastor asks the pews, for reasons he can't marry you. I'll keep my word and my seat.”
The song is filled with beautiful metaphors about the strength of this love, alluding to the fact that it will even survive the end of the world. “You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me” will absolutely go down as one of Mayer’s greatest hits lyrically.
“Never On the Day You Leave” is another song about leaving a love behind. Mayer explains, that when ending a relationship, you never consider all the seemingly little moments that you will grow to miss.
“No, it’s never on the day you leave that you remember Christmas Eve, and all the things you miss about her crazy family,” Mayer sings. “You'll hear an old familiar sound and hope it's her when you turn around. But never, never on the day you leave.”
The song ends with a reflection by Mayer: “So maybe it’d be better off to write her and leave a little note right there beside her that says maybe we're not perfect, but I'll be damned if I ever leave.”
“In the Blood” is another standout song and is a departure from the album’s love song continuum. The track will undoubtedly make listeners ask themselves: how much of us are predestined, do we really have any control over who we are, who will we become in our lifetimes?
“How much of my mother has my mother left in me?” Mayer asks. “How much of my father am I destined to become?”
The lyrics reveal the lasting impression Mayer’s family members have had on him as he begs the question: “Could I change it if I wanted/Could I rise above the flood? Will it wash out in the water or is it always in the blood?”
“In the Blood” is one of Mayer’s absolute best lyrically, and is reminiscent of old school Mayer’s sound.
“My record has one name in the parentheses on every song, and it’s my name," he told the New York Times. “That’s important.”
For fans, at the very least, the album is a testament to Mayer’s longevity as a triple threat: a lyricist, musician and singer.
