By Zorian Edwards Editor-In-Chief
Disclaimer: This article doesn’t cover each song on the album and some songs may contain explicit language.
On Nov. 10, 2023, the indie pop band, AJR released their fifth studio album, “The Maybe Man.” With a total of twelve songs, the album as a whole utilizes unique and creative ways to draw in their audience. This album not only paved a new path for musical overtures, but also raised the bar for the way music videos connect with lyrics in an album.
The first song on the album, “Maybe Man,” undoubtedly reimagined how a musical overture is made for an album. Each stanza of the song refers back to a song on the album. For example, in the first couple of lines, the band refers to the song that follows the track on the album, “Touchy Feely Fool,” singing, “Wish I was a stone, so I couldn’t feel You’d yell in my face; it’d be no big deal.”
This track in particular has a significantly different music video than the other tracks on this album, featuring some incredible animation of the lead singer, Jack, singing the lyrics and elements pertaining to the words. This sets the tone for the entire album and draws to the song in a new and inventive way. This immediately caught my attention when both awaiting the release of the album and listening to it when it was released.
“Touchy Feely Fool,” the second track on the album, opens with a musical intro different from “Maybe Man.” The song itself talks about a feeling many people encounter in their lives, caring about someone who gives you a hard time. Wishing you didn’t care about someone as much as you do is something I personally find very relatable.
The song not only has relatable lyrics but also features more beautiful animation and art in its music video. Although the animation is not as dynamic as the previous track, it still has beautiful transitions between frames and has a consistent art style that matches the rest of the album.
“Yes I’m A Mess,” the third track on this album was released as a single before the album release. This song immediately caught the attention of many fans and got many awaiting the release of “The Maybe Man” as a whole. The song talks about self-acceptance despite feeling overwhelmed and flawed at the same time.
The music video for this song also features something we haven’t really seen in the music industry before. Despite spending a lot of money on a video for this song, AJR came to the realization that they didn’t like it that much, and decided to try something new entirely.
Every day, people dress up in Times Square as famous characters to take pictures with tourists, so AJR decided to give this a try for their new music video. Jack decided to dress up as the famous Sesame Street character, Elmo to film the video. This provided some interesting reactions from the crowd at Times Square. One person featured in the video said, “I’m scared of Elmo.” when Jack opened his arms for a hug. The video follows his journey dressed in an Elmo costume with the song playing, even capturing Jack getting arrested. You apparently need a permit to dress in an Elmo costume in Times Square, who knew? (This is all explained in text as you watch the music video).
There are so many more amazing songs and creative music videos on this album. If you’re wanting to listen to something with a different sound, relatable lyrics, and creative storytelling, this is the album to add to your playlist.
