“I was like the little break where you go to the melodic thing, to be honest, it actually shows this new kind of branch of what she does, and this new versatility that she’s going to show everybody right now,” the 41-year-old star elaborated. “That’s a side of her I had never really heard yet. Well it’s just, it’s one of those great songs that I think kind of continues to build. And the way she built her part was just, it couldn’t have been a more epic kind of climax for the song. I mean, it really is absolutely perfect. So, I mean, what she did was just miraculous, and it brought the song to a whole new level.”
Levine also reminisced on the all-star rappers Maroon 5 has had the pleasure of collaborating with in the past, including Wiz Khalifa (“Payphone”), Kendrick Lamar (“Don’t Wanna Know”) and Cardi B (“Girls Like You”). Cardi and the crew made chart history together with “Girls Like You,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and a whopping 40 weeks in the top 20 region of the all-genre tally. It also made history for longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard‘s Radio Songs chart in 2018 (nine weeks) and longest-running No. 1 song by a group on Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart (23 weeks).
“You look back at all the crazy features we’ve been able to do, whether it’s Wiz or Kendrick, or is, I mean, there’s like a million, you know? I can’t, there’s too many to mention or a future of work. We’ve just, every single one has been so special, and we feel really proud of being able to carry that torch,” Levine told Lowe. “Cardi was probably one of the biggest features we ever had. There’s just so many of them, and we’ve been so fortunate to have so many great collabs. It’s just like, but yeah, Megan falls right in that perfect category.”
Maybe they’ll have more features on Maroon 5’s upcoming seventh studio album, which Levine confirmed is done, mastered and delivered. But the release date? Mum’s the word. Teased Levine: “But just it’s not far off, I’ll just say that.”
Maroon 5’s last studio album, Red Pill Blues, was released in 2017. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Listen to “Beautiful Mistakes” below.
