Maria Saraiva (EC1639753)

Music History – Assessment 2

Outcome 2: Critically analyse a key individual/ group and their music

John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer was born in the American state of Connecticut in October
1977 and is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer. Mayer has also
studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Early days
After watching Michael J. Fox playing guitar in Back To The Future, Mayer decided
to learn the instrument, first discovering Blues when he was given a tape with songs by
Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of his main inspirations now. Since then, he started searching
for the work of other blues musicians, such as BB King and Otis Rush. He debuted live
two years after playing the instrument in Blues bars and other locations with bands he
formed in high school.

Career
In September 1999, Mayer released his first EP, Inside Wants Out, after dropping
out of Berklee College of Music when he realized that his passion was performing and
composing instead of studying music. In 2001, his first album Room for Squares was
released. John wrote the 13 songs in the album himself, and obtained commercial
success with the single Your Body Is a Wonderland. The song also gave him the Grammy
for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Heavier Things, his second studio album, was
released in 2003 and received positive feedback from critics. It was also commercially a
success, however not as much as his last album. The single Daughters reached number
1 on the Billboard Adult Pop Song Chart and also won Song of the Year at the 2005
Grammy Awards.
After the release of his first works, Mayer was associated with the adult
contemporary and singer/ songwriter genres. Fame allowed him to meet his earlier
influences and collaborate with these blues artists. He accompanied Buddy Guy, toured
with Herbie Hancock and performed with other several artists, such as B. B. King and
Eric Clapton. The John Mayer trio was formed in 2005, along with Pino Palladino and
Steve Jordan, recording a live album called Try! in 2006 where they covered many known
blues songs, such as Everyday I Have the Blues by Pine Top and I Don’t Need No Doctor
by Ray Charles. They would also be featured in Where the Light is, a live concert/ album
by Mayer released in 2008. All of this collaborations were a huge contribution to the
making of Continuum, Mayer’s third studio album, which is a combination of blues and
pop. The album achieved an overwhelming success, debuting at number 25 in the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Mayer appeared in several TV talk shows and his music played
in TV shows like House. Continuum won Best Pop Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards
and Waiting on The World to Change won the Best Pop Song category in the same year.
After the release of Continuum, Mayer struggled moving on to the next record.
With Battle Studies, his fourth studio album, Mayer decided to “put Continuum into the
sleeping chamber and do something else.” (from musicradar.com interview in 2010).
Battle Studies came out in 2009, debuting number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album
Chart, followed by a successful arena tour. However, the album was criticized for its
“ultimately tiresome” lyrics (Andy Gill, The Independent). According to Tom Hughes,
from The Guardian, “Mayer’s talents are obvious, but there’s so much more cheese than
charm here that he would seem like a hard sell outside the Billboard heartland”. It was
also nominated for two Grammy awards, but lost to the other nominees.
After the release of two polemical interviews for Rolling Stone and Playboy
magazines and receiving negative feedback from the public, Mayer decided to leave the
public life for a while, giving no interviews. During this time he wrote Born and Raised,
that would be his next album. However, a vocal problem led Mayer to postpone the
recording and eventual release of the album. When it was finally released, in May 2012,
the album received general positive feedback from critics. He kept the same folk/
country vibe for his next album that would come out in 2013, Paradise Valley. After
touring with Dead and Company, Mayer released his most recent album, The Search For
Everything in April 2017. After his hiatus Mayer became increasingly active in his social
media accounts, hosting a live show on Instagram called Current Mood where guests
have already included Cazzie David, Charlie Puth and Thundercat.

Salient features
To anyone that listens to the whole John Mayer’s discography chronologically,
from Inside Wants Out to his most recent album The Search for Everything and new
single New Light, it is obvious that Mayer is always innovative when it comes to his
music. Up until now we have heard Mayer explore blues, rock, country, folk and pop
influences in his works, and will hopefully continuing doing so. However, there are some
features consistently present in his music, such as the heavily blues influenced guitar
solos that make most of his songs guitar-led (in songs like Gravity), acoustic songs with
unusual acoustic guitar arrangements and techniques, such as the “thumb slap” that
gives a different sound to the song, for example in songs like Neon or Stop This Train.
His singing style is also strongly influenced by blues singers (as it can be heard in Waiting
On The World To Change) and the songs often feature falsetto (for example in Vultures).

Influence on other artists

John Mayer often collaborates with younger and newer artists, from performing
live with them to co-writing their songs. He often collaborates with Ed Sheeran, having
performed at the 2015 Grammy Awards and other TV programs. In his Instagram talk
show, Current Mood, he often invites new musicians to be there. Another way Mayer
can be considered as an influence for the youngest generation of musicians is his recent
collaboration with PRS to create a new guitar, already having collaborated with Fender
to develop most of his electric guitars.
The most popular younger artist that sees Mayer as a mentor is perhaps Shawn
Mendes, a singer-songwriter from Canada. In his song Ruin it is easy to spot the influence
of Mayer’s music in his. In the interview Mendes gave to TIME magazine in 2018, he
states that “It’s impossible to have a conversation with Mayer without some
profound piece of advice coming out of his mouth, but the one thing he never
said… is that you can be John Mayer (…). For me that’s the biggest lesson: even
when the people you think have mastered what you aim to be, they still haven’t.
When they’re still taking pointers from younger people, that is true love to the
craft and there’s no real ego there.”
Bibliography
The Independent (2009): Album: John Mayer, Battle Studies (Columbia). Available at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-john-
mayer-battle-studies-columbia-1819442.html (Accessed March 2019);

MusicRadar (2010): John Mayer interview. Available at:

https://www.musicradar.com/guitarist/john-mayer-interview-251957 (Accessed March
2019);

YouTube (2015): John Mayer: Someday I’ll Fly, directed by Eastwood Allen (uploaded by
Eastwood Allen). Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2wsTv3zVD0&t=228s (Accessed March 2019);

The Guardian (2009): John Mayer: Battle Studies. Available at:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/nov/19/john-mayer-battle-studies-review
(Accessed March 2019);

TIME (2007): The 2007 TIME 100. Available at:

http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/completelist/0,29569,1595326,00.html
(Accessed March 2019);

Rolling Stone (2010): John Mayer’s Dirty Mind & Lonely Heart. Available at:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/john-mayers-dirty-mind-lonely-
heart-new-issue-of-rolling-stone-234283/ (Accessed March 2019);

MTV (2010): John Mayer’s Playboy Interview Causes Uproar Online. Available at:
http://www.mtv.com/news/1631667/john-mayers-playboy-interview-causes-uproar-
online/ (Accessed March 2019);

TIME (2018): Shawn Mendes on the Most Important Lesson John Mayer Taught Him.
Available at:
http://time.com/5251345/shawn-mendes-time-100-on-john-mayer/ (Accessed March
2019);

Guitar World (2018): John Mayer Explains the Heat Around His Cool New PRS Silver Sky
Guitar. Available at:
https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/john-mayer-explains-the-heat-around-his-cool-
new-prs-silver-sky-guitar (Accessed March 2019);

YouTube: Ed Sheeran / ft. JOHN MAYER – Thinking out loud HQ (uploaded by Cilea
Barcelos). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwiHzs4Fdkw (Accessed
March 2019);

Billboard (2015): Grammys 2015: Ed Sheeran Performs ‘Thinking Out Loud’ with
Questlove, Herbie Hancock, John Mayer. Available at:
https://www.billboard.com/articles/grammys-2015/grammy-
performances/6465571/grammys-2015-ed-sheeran-thinking-out-loud-herbie-hancock-
john-mayer-questlove (Accessed March 2019);
YouTube (2016): Shawn Mendes – Ruin (uploaded by Shawn Mendes). Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-nCLLnQA5c (Accessed March 2019);

YouTube (2010): John Mayer – Gravity  HD  (uploaded by aDOCTORbutWHO).

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo4746XZgw8 (Accessed March
2019);

YouTube (2009): John Mayer – Waiting On the World to Change (Official Music Video).
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIxScJ5rlY (Accessed March 2019);

YouTube (2012): John Mayer – Stop This Train (HD) (uploaded by Toni Vieira). Available
at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2o4q7vRFM (Accessed March 2019);

YouTube (2012): John Mayer – Neon (Live in LA – 1080p) (uploaded by Paul Kellerman).
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DfQC5qHhbo (Accessed March
2019);

YouTube (2010): John Mayer – Vultures  HD  (uploaded by aDOCTORbutWHO).

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNHJBnQTzog (Accessed
March 2019);

YouTube (2017): John Mayer Trio – Every Day I Have The Blues – The Gorge
Amphitheatre – George, WA – July 21, 2017 (uploaded by Milaukee Live). Available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB0UKXI6iR0 (Accessed April 2019);

YouTube (2018): John Mayer – New Light (Premium Content!) (uploaded by John Mayer).
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ055hHdxbE (Accessed March
2019)