page_title: Adam Levine
section_title: Artistry
hierarchical_section_title: Adam Levine / Artistry
caption_attribution_description: English: Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine performing in Sydney, Australia in February 2019.
context_page_description: Adam Noah Levine is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and the lead singer of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, of which he was the lead vocalist and guitarist. The band split up in 1997 after the commercial failure of their only album, The Fourth World. In 2001, the group was reformed as Maroon 5 – with James Valentine replacing Levine as guitarist- and released their first album, Songs About Jane, which went multi-platinum in the US. Since then, they have released five more albums: It Won't Be Soon Before Long, Hands All Over, Overexposed, V, and Red Pill Blues. As part of Maroon 5, Levine has received three Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, and a World Music Award.
  From 2011 to 2019, Levine served as a coach on NBC's reality talent show The Voice. The winners of seasons belonged to his team. In 2012, Levine made his acting debut as recurring character Leo Morrison in the second season of the television series American Horror Story.
context_section_description: Levine's interest in music started at around ten years of age, when he first started playing the guitar. He found music as an outlet for his feelings, stating: "I picked up a guitar and that was it. I fell so madly in love with it, it's all I did". He performed his first professional gig at The Troubadour when he was twelve, but he was so nervous that he played with his back to the audience. Throughout his childhood, he had a wide range of musical influences, including The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Nirvana, and, in high school, Bob Marley, Bill Withers, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Phish and Michael Jackson. He has also incorporated elements of The Police and Prince into his music. In an interview with Billboard, he explained the diversity of his influences: "I love every single kind of music ... even the most saccharine, sugary pop song can be the greatest thing ever. But so can a 25-minute crazy avant-garde fusion gnarly Herbie Hancock jam from the '70s".
  Levine remembers that listening to "Are You That Somebody?" by Aaliyah convinced him to pursue a more soulful sound than that of the band he was performing with at the time, Kara's Flowers. His move to New York introduced him to a new music scene that involved hip-hop, R&B, gospel and soul music. He took to changing his musical style, extensively emulating Stevie Wonder. Subsequently, Songs About Jane was released, deemed  "bluesy funk" and similar to the sound of English pop rock band Busted. Critics also drew comparisons between Levine and Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay.
  While earlier work was deemed "vaguely funky white-soul" and "rock", recent ones have been judged to have a more reggae, anthemic pop sound, evoking comparisons to Coldplay. Levine refuses to fit his music into a genre, saying: "There's so much variety in music, it's silly to belong to a specific club and try to sound a certain way". He considers himself an orthodox lyricist sticking to conventional themes, acknowledging: "Romance, love, the lack thereof are still very big themes. I haven't figured out a way to use everything yet. As a songwriter, I'm still limited to that one thing." He also claims he does not like mincing words, stating in a Rolling Stone interview: "I was so sick of typical lyrics like 'Ooh, baby' and 'I love you' and all this vague shit. I thought the more explicit I got without being totally explicit was a nice approach".
  Levine is a tenor, with a 3-and-a-half-octave vocal range and has been noted for his falsettos. Salon wrote: "When he's crooning come-ons, his voice lends the music a satisfying lewdness, a sense of sticky physicality that gives his snaky hooks a pheromonal urgency." In a review of It Won't Be Soon Before Long, Entertainment Weekly described his vocals as "smug, R&B-slick deadpan ... there's a twisted logic to his dispassionate delivery". In another review, Allmusic wrote "he knows that he's a pop guy, somewhat in the tradition of Hall & Oates, but he isn't trying to be retro, he's ... making records that are melodic, stylish, and soulful". In a review of the 2013 Honda Civic Tour, The Boston Globe also commented positively on his on-stage presence, which "exude[s] a sense of up-for-anything playfulness ... combined with a rock solid work ethic and a clear love for their audiences and performing".
  Levine's popularity outside of his musical work has seen him tagged as a "stand-alone star," which critics say have pushed other members of Maroon 5 to the backseat, even in their music. Their guitarist Valentine noted that his vocals were a central aspect around which their music revolved. Conversely, others opine that Levine's fame has been a boost to the band, with Paper writing: "Maroon 5 has managed to ebb and flow with the times ... thanks in no small part to their frontman's uncanny ability to be extremely entertaining". Delta Sky described him as "a natural, if slightly neurotic, leading man". He claims that the image was consciously cultivated, explaining: "We talked about it a long time ago and decided
caption: Levine performing in Sydney, Australia in February 2019
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