Battle of the Bands 10.27.09: John Mayer vs. Michael Buble
Posted by Adam Battagello on 10.27.2009
Ironically, if I had the pull with women that these guys do, I wouldn't have time to write this article.
Hello again ladies and gentlemen and welcome to my special ‘hard pressed for time' edition of Battle of the Bands. Sure, university assignments may be raining down, but I just can't resist the lure of bringing you yet another week of the face-off.
Before the Blow
This week we have news from the undisputed king of self-satisfaction, Mr. Bono himself. In a recent interview the U2 front man confessed his disappointment with the Irish lad's latest offering, ‘No Line On The Horizon' essentially falling flat on its face in terms of public reception and sales.
Bono himself stated that, "we've made a work that is a bit challenging for people who have grown up on a diet of pop stars," which quite frankly, sounds like a load of conceited crap. There have always been pop stars around and up until recent years, your band has had no real problem competing and even dominating them as far as sales goes, and now, despite competition remaining the same you have become less successful, where do you think the problem is?
Hello? Relevance? Do you remember us?
That said, as mediocre as the new album is, it is not without it's high points.
Anyway, onto the face off.
This Week:
John Mayer- Who Says vs. Michael Buble- Haven't Met You Yet
First up this week we have John Mayer, the man who, had it not been for a well timed blues transformation in 2005 that saw him playing with the likes of Eric Clapton, would more than likely still be playing ‘Your Body Is a Wonderland' to angst ridden virginal teens everywhere, but I digress. Regardless of what I think of his early or, what I like to call ‘pre-good' work, Mayer has sold enough albums and won enough awards to be more than enough of a weighty contender in today's face-off.
On the other side of our metaphorical ring we have Michael Buble, a Canadian performer who looks to have the best chance at bringing back the forgotten art of swing music. Having never really paid much attention to Buble, imagine my surprise hearing the man talk when he was doing the media rounds down in Australia promoting his last album. The man is sharp, funny, and while he has had no shortage of success back in the States, it really doesn't surprise me that he has exploded as quite a huge international act down in Oz. But at the end of the day, none of this matters, the only thing that's important in this battle is the singles. So how does Buble's latest offering ‘Haven't Met You Yet' shape up against Mayer's ‘Who Says'? Let's find out…
John Mayer- Who Says
First things first, let me say, if this competition was based on a list of sexual conquests (which isn't a bad idea) John Mayer would quite frankly have a Ric Flair equivalent of title reigns. Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Jessica Simpson, Minka Kelly, Jennifer Aniston…honestly I don't know whether to worship the man or send him letters with the alphabet cut out of magazines. I'm inclined to go with the first option.
Mayer's new track is in its own way an amalgamation of everything the ever-improving guitar player has offered to date. While he brings back the acoustic guitar, it carries none of the bubblegum pop sound of the likes of ‘Your Body is A Wonderland' that pigeon holed him for much of his earlier career.
While it will undoubtedly carry the ‘adult contemporary' tag, the guitar work is infused with Mayer's own brand of blues that, in my opinion, helps it defy these 99 cent store bin categories, and become something much grander.
The lyrics to the song itself are inescapably easy listening, and despite dealing with quite party related subject matter, Mayer makes it sound like the most relaxed thing on the planet. The songs main phrase "who says I can't get stoned," should, by all logic, become the new catch cry for potheads everywhere.
What we have with ‘Who Says' is quite frankly some of Mayer's best work to date. Despite loving the blues turn he has taken of late, with the exception of Gravity, I don't think I have as wholly enjoyed a John Mayer song as I have this latest offering. Definitely a new easy listening anthem here, and the fact that the film-clip shows him frolicking with more than a few good looking women makes this man that much cooler.
Moving on!
Michael Buble- Haven't Met You Yet
As expected for the usual big band sound of Buble, ‘Haven't Met You Yet' is undeniably upbeat and catchy, and is so obviously directed at a female market that you'd have to be deaf and dumb not to notice.
Despite this rather skewed audience, leaning heavily towards the people of the lady persuasion that Buble invariably attracts, the man does have something to offer to anyone willing to listen. In the days where pop-rock singers who can barely carry a tune dominate the charts, Buble is a singer who can straight up outshine the best of them. Seriously, just watch.
All things considered ‘Haven't Met You Yet' essentially offers nothing that we haven't already seen from Buble in the past, but hey, the man sells records, so why mess with the lady pandering formula I guess.
There can only be one!
And this week, I am taking the side of Mr. John Mayer, this song is cool, layed back and can pretty much appeal to anyone, while I was also a fan of the Buble track, I honestly found it hard to be enthusiastic about something that was so strongly geared towards the female sex. So there you go.
