Jordi (stylized in all caps) is the seventh studio album by American band Maroon 5. It was released on June 11, 2021, through 222, Interscope and Polydor Records. The album features guest appearances from Megan Thee Stallion, Blackbear, Stevie Nicks, Bantu, H.E.R., YG, and late rappers Juice Wrld and Nipsey Hussle. The deluxe edition of the album features additional guest appearances from Anuel AA, Tainy, and Jason Derulo. The album is titled after a nickname of the band's late manager Jordan Feldstein, who died in 2017.[1] It is the band's first album without bassist Mickey Madden, following his departure from Maroon 5 in 2020 due to his arrest from charges of domestic violence.
Background
In December 2017, the band's manager and Levine's childhood friend Jordan Feldstein, died of a heart attack aged 40.[2] Two years later, the band dedicated the song "Memories" to him.[3] The song went on to become a worldwide success - it is the first single released from the album and it appears as the penultimate track on the standard edition. On March 3, 2021, the band announced that they finished recording the album.[4] The project was announced and put up for pre-order on April 29, 2021.[5] The track listing for the deluxe edition was announced on May 24, 2021.[6]
Singles
The album was preceded by three singles. The first single, "Memories", was released on September 20, 2019. The song debuted at 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, later peaking at number two, becoming the band's tenth top-five single and fifthteenth top ten single. The second single, "Nobody's Love", was released on July 24, 2020. The song was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests.[7] The song peaked at 41 and 119 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200, respectively. The third single, "Beautiful Mistakes", collaboration with American rapper Megan Thee Stallion, was released on March 3, 2021,[8] with a lyric video released the same day.[9] The official music video was released on March 12, 2021, and was directed by Sophie Muller. The song peaked at 18 and 26 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200, respectively.[10][11]
Writing for NME, El Hunt reported that, with Jordi, Maroon 5 were "more visible, and, at times, vulnerable", describing the two versions of "Memories" as "sharp pop songs with both substance and heart". Talking about the collaborations, Hunt detailed that Stevie Nicks' contribution to "Remedy" sounded like "a corrupted Siri singing country-western", and described the Levine and Jason Derulo collaboration "Lifestyle" as "silly" and "slightly overdone". She remarked that the addition of Juice Wrld on "Can't Leave You Alone" "serves little purpose", and that his verse is "wedged into the middle of an otherwise unremarkable break-up song".[14]
In a negative review, Kate Solomon of i described the songs on the album as "generic but hypnotic melodies over generic but danceable beats", going on to say
that the songs were "banal" and "advertisement-friendly". While Solomon highlighted the inclusion of H.E.R. and Megan Thee Stallion, she described the posthumous appearances by Nipsey Hussle and Juice Wrld as "unmemorable". Solomon went on to remark that the album is "perfectly crafted to please crowds, to slip into your consciousness without you really realising [sic]".[13] In a similar review, The Guardian'sAlexis Petridis described the album as "a plethora of well-worn 21st-century pop tropes – tropical house sounds, post-Tame Impala floaty synths – but nothing you would describe as novel in the music or lyrics". He likened Maroon 5 to blank canvas, saying that the band was "reliant on guest artists to inject personality and songwriters and producers to come up with the goods". He highlighted Bantu and Thee Stallion's contributions, describing them as "fiery" and "a surprise", respectively, but went on to describe the rest of the album as a "mixed bag", and remarked that the songs felt "too calculated for their own good".[12]
