As is very clear this week at PopJudgment, we just love Adam Levine. He is unbelievably attractive, and as we’ve seen on The Voice, hilarious and super competitive. And when we love somebody, we support their career no matter what (i.e. actually paying $14 to see John Carter on behalf of Taylor Kitsch). And for us, supporting Adam Levine’s career has not been a very difficult thing to do. Maroon 5 (while kind of embarrassing to admit we like) actually makes pretty decent songs that we like to jam to in the car. When no one else is around. Obviously. But the music video to “Payphone” is just kind of difficult for us to get behind. Don’t get us wrong, we love the song! But, did anyone listen to the lyrics when they made the music video? Watch below to see what we mean.
Wait whaaa? Was that the right video for this song? Reading the YouTube comments we found that we were not alone in our confusion. YouTube user frankmic asked, “the very first why he run? Lol”. We don’t know frankmic. We just don’t know. And DiddiDsoljaxD echoed this sentiment saying, “I Dont Get it He Didnt Rob The Bank they Werent Going To kill him and the girl So Why did he run From The First Place o.O?? But I Like the Song”. Pretty much sums up our feelings on the subject dude. And lastly, our favorite comment from enzDC, who kept it succinct with a simple “f*ck the police”. Word. The police in this video are super confused about who actually robbed the bank and what they are doing in this music video in the first place. Maybe they are chasing him because they just wanted Adam Levine’s autograph? We don’t know.
While we can see how this might have started as a cool concept, it just did not transfer very well. If the song was called “I’m at a payphone because I just got confused for some bank robbers and no one believes me” we would be so behind this video. But, alas, it is not. It is difficult to pin down exactly when this video spiralled out of control, so we made a list of moments when we were just like “WTF?” Perhaps by reading through these we can all, collectively, decide just when the video went off the rails.
WTF Moments
- Adam Levine’s haircut. We recognize that this is his life-choice unrelated to the video. We still don’t have to like it.
- The opening where the payphone picks up and Adam Levine starts singing. Very musical theater.
- The bit at the office where Adam Levine and the love-interest in the video are both wearing glasses. This is the part where the music video director employs the old Hollywood trick of put-glasses-on-extremely-attractive-people-to-make-them-look- “normal”. They don’t. That girl is clearly a model and very hot and Adam Levine is the sexiest thing to ever happen to planet earth. YOU CAN’T FOOL US.
- The part where he grabs the gun and runs out with his girlfriend, and neither of them get hit by any bullets! Despite all of the ones that we see in the air! And then this starts the plot of the video where Adam Levine is being chased by cops for no apparent reason. Like what?
- This is not a WTF moment but it had to be mentioned. Wiz Khalifa is our favorite part because it’s like he knows this whole video is bizarre. His opening line is “Man, f*ck that sh*t” and from there the rest of his rap verse can be summed up as him saying, “Whatevvvss I’m rich and gonna go spend my money! Back off haters and suck it nameless ex-girlfriend!” We loved it. So random.
- The very end where Adam Levine escapes the cops only to have his car blow up for no apparent reason (a theme in this video) and his cell phone break. Which leads him to the payphone. Cue song.
This video is just strange and doesn’t really fit with the song at all. While we recognize that lots of music video directors take liberties, this is a pretty large stretch. We were expecting something completely different and were just really confused when we saw this. Please Maroon 5 go back to making music videos that make sense with your songs!
- Maroon 5’s ‘Payphone’ Video – Watch Now! (justjared.com)
- Maroon 5 Debut ‘Payphone’ Music Video (997now.cbslocal.com)
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