It’s easy to forget that Maroon 5 launched around the turn of the millennium, in part because the band is having its best year yet in 2018, between the one-two punch of singles “What Lovers Do” featuring SZA and “Girls Like You” with Cardi B, and an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl in February.
But along with those career highs — major benchmarks for a group that’s released six albums since its 2002 debut “Songs About Jane” — came new personal lows for 39-year-old frontman Adam Levine. In December 2017, Jordan Feldstein, Maroon 5’s manager, Levine’s childhood friend and Jonah Hill’s older brother, died unexpectedly at his home in Beverly Hills. According to the coroner’s report, a pulmonary thromboembolism was to blame, and the death was deemed “natural” despite the presence of multiple used nitrous oxide Whip-It canisters in Feldstein’s bedroom.
In the wake of Feldstein’s death, the group faced an uncertain future, at least where its business was concerned. While Levine had his pick of managers, he chose to keep the operation tight and familial, bringing aboard Irving Azoff, a mentor and business partner to Feldstein and a close friend of his family, and elevating Adam “Ash” Harrison to co-manage Maroon 5, along with himself. Says Harrison, “Adam wanted to be involved in the decisions, so it’s a collaborative conversation at all times. It’s been one long text message and phone call for 10 months of the last year.”
“Jordy,” as Levine calls his late confidant, might have advised his client on how to navigate the wave of backlash he’s been receiving for agreeing to perform at Super Bowl halftime. Fellow celebrities like Rihanna and Amy Schumer are urging the band to bail on the game in a show of solidarity for Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who knelt on the field during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality.
When Variety asked about his controversial decision to sign on to the Super Bowl, Levine would only say, “I’m still formulating a lot of things.”
The performer is also forced to rely on his own gut when it comes to managing his heavy schedule. Between his work with NBC (where he’s launching a show in 2019 called “Songland,” on which he’ll have a behind-the-scenes EP role), running his production company, 222, and being dad to two young daughters (Dusty, 2, and Gio, nine months) with model Behati Prinsloo, Levine has his hands full. Even for the David Dobkin-directed music video for “Girls Like You,” which features Levine standing back-to-back with the likes of Gal Gadot, Ellen DeGeneres, Aly Raisman, Sarah Silverman and Tiffany Haddish (it’s logged nearly 1.3 billion views on YouTube), the singer personally reached out to each of the 25 women on his wish list.
But Levine’s bread and butter remains making hit songs, albeit in a dramatically changed landscape from the one in which Maroon 5 launched. “We live in a world that’s heavy on the songwriter,” says Levine. “Songwriters have become the people that make the music. And every song has to stand on its own.”
Gallery links:
Variety
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