Maroon 5 And Wiz Khalifa’s “Payphone”: Listen

Robbie Daw | April 16, 2012 9:28 am

has gone from singing about stereo hearts to public telephones, via ‘s lead Overexposed single “Payphone”, a catchy pop jam that features Pittsburgh MC and aims to be a “Moves Like Jagger”-like smash. Levine has said this is the band’s poppiest album yet (it was executive-produced by Max Martin, after all), and “Payphone” certainly underscores that statement. Head below to dial it a up!

Following a bit of a commercial fumble with third LP Hands All Over, Levine has spent the past year honing his pop sensibility by serving as a coach on , pairing up with for “Stereo Hearts” and Christina Aguilera for mega-hit “Moves Like Jagger”.

All of that is influence is evident here on the extremely Top 40-friendly “Payphone”, which finds the singer utilizing his soaring tenor on the catchy chorus and sharing vocal chores with Khalifa.

It’s uncertain if the song will indeed spark a rise in the use of payphones throughout the world. But, at the very least, it should cause a rise in the cranking up of speaker knobs.

What do you think of M5’s new single? Is it a smash hit or a total miss?