John Mayer has been all over the place lately. From succeeding quite easily on First We Feast's "Hot Ones" to collaborating with Nike and Acronym on a pair of super fly Vapormaxes, the 40-year-old singer songwriter has kept busy, despite not releasing new music since 2017's The Search for Everything.
But on Wednesday, Mayer teased a new song to be debuted on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 Radio, and Mayerheads began to lose their minds.
The song, called "New Light," chronicles Mayer's pursuit of a woman who sounds uninterested, or maybe just unaware of his feelings, urging her to give him "just one night" in order to see him "in a new light." It's classic Mayer: heartbroken, sorting out his feelings, and pushing 40 in the friend zone—his words, not mine.
His proposal of running away to Malibu and starting a new life before this woman even agrees to give him a shot is certainly misguided, but one of the biggest reasons people are drawn to Mayer's music—outside of the undeniably groovy, hits-every-mark blues guitar—is the fact that he can articulate nuanced feelings in such a relatable, conversational way, while simultaneously letting you know he's got none of it figured out.
On "New Light," Mayer provides the same sort of vibes he put out with songs on Room for Squares and Continuum: a young, love-drunk man desperate for someone to get him, while trading in his acoustic, out-West sound for a bluesy return to his roots. He's not in repair like he was on Paradise Valley, but more like he was on, well, "In Repair."
The song serves as a message to the unnamed potential partner that he's ready to go there, but he remains pessimistic about how his revelation will be received. It's the back-and-forth we've all experienced in our heads amid a romantic quest: that confident but hesitant, too-complex-to-pull-the trigger internal argument you have any time the next step feels out of your control.
With "New Light," it seems we've got all the best of old John back, and none of the worst. As a fan, I hope this is a sign of more to come.
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