Jordi (album)

Jordi
Studio album by Maroon 5
Released	June 11, 2021
Recorded	2019–March 2021
Genre	Pop[1]
Length	37:45
Label	222 Interscope Polydor
Producer	Beam Louis Bell Blackbear Cameron Bright Boi-1da Nathan Butts Cirkut John DeBold Dutchboi Mikky Ekko Father Moth German Andrew Goldstein B Ham KBeazy Kid Bloom Mailbox Don Mills the Monsters & Strangerz Ryan Ogren Michael Pollack Gabe Simon Blake Slatkin Jahaan Sweet Andrew Watt
Maroon 5 chronology
Red Pill Blues (2017) Jordi (2021)
Singles from Jordi
"Memories" Released: September 20, 2019 "Nobody's Love" Released: July 24, 2020 "Beautiful Mistakes" Released: March 3, 2021 "Lost" Released: June 11, 2021

Jordi (stylized in all caps) is the seventh studio album by American band Maroon 5. It was released on June 11, 2021, through 222, Interscope and Polydor Records. The album features guest appearances from Megan Thee Stallion, Blackbear, Stevie Nicks, Bantu, H.E.R., YG, and late rappers Juice Wrld and Nipsey Hussle. The deluxe edition of the album features additional guest appearances from Anuel AA, Tainy, and Jason Derulo.

The album is titled after a nickname of the band's late manager Jordan Feldstein, who died in 2017.^[2] It received generally negative reviews from critics. Jordi is the band's first album released following the departure of bassist Mickey Madden, who left the band in 2020 due to his arrest from charges of domestic violence. However, his bass playing can be heard on three tracks—"Can't Leave You Alone" and both versions of the album's lead single, "Memories".

Clocking in at approximately 37 minutes, Jordi is the shortest album that Maroon 5 has ever released.

Background[]

In December 2017, the band's manager and Levine's childhood friend Jordan Feldstein, died of a pulmonary embolism aged 40.^[3] Two years later, the band dedicated the song "Memories" to him.^[4] The song went on to become a worldwide success - it is the first single released from the album and it appears on the track listing in two versions (alongside the original version of the song, the album also includes a remix, featuring American rappers Nipsey Hussle & YG). On March 3, 2021, the band announced that they finished recording the album.^[5] The project was announced and put up for pre-order on April 29, 2021.^[6] The track listing for the deluxe edition was announced on May 24, 2021.^[7]

Singles[]

The album is promoted by four singles. The first single, "Memories", was released on September 20, 2019. The song debuted at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, later peaking at number 2 and becoming the band's tenth top-5 single, as well as their fifteenth top-10 single. The second single, "Nobody's Love", was released on July 24, 2020. The song was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests.^[8] The song peaked at 41 and 119 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200, respectively. The third single, "Beautiful Mistakes", a collaboration with American rapper Megan Thee Stallion, was released on March 3, 2021,^[9] with a lyric video released the same day.^[10] The official music video was released on March 11, 2021, and was directed by Sophie Muller.^[11] The song peaked at 18 and 26 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200, respectively.^[12][13] The fourth single, "Lost", was released alongside the album on June 11, 2021, along with an official music video.^[14]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	3.6/10[15]
Metacritic	48/100[16]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Arts Desk	[17]
Clash	[18]
Evening Standard	[19]
The Guardian	[20]
i	[21]
The Independent	[22]
NME	[23]
Pitchfork	4.7/10[1]
Rolling Stone	[24]
Sputnikmusic	[25]

Jordi received negative to mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 48 out of 100, which indicates "mixed or average reviews" based on 8 reviews.^[16]

Writing for NME, El Hunt reported that, with Jordi, Maroon 5 were "more visible, and, at times, vulnerable", describing the two versions of "Memories" as "sharp pop songs with both substance and heart". Talking about the collaborations, Hunt detailed that Stevie Nicks' contribution to "Remedy" sounded like "a corrupted Siri singing country-western", and described Jason Derulo's collaboration with Levine - "Lifestyle" - as "silly" and "slightly overdone". She remarked that the addition of Juice Wrld on "Can't Leave You Alone" "serves little purpose", and that his verse is "wedged into the middle of an otherwise unremarkable break-up song".^[23]

In a negative review, Kate Solomon of i described the songs on the album as "generic but hypnotic melodies over generic but danceable beats", going on to say that the songs were "banal" and "advertisement-friendly". While Solomon highlighted the inclusion of H.E.R. and Megan Thee Stallion, she described the posthumous appearances by Nipsey Hussle and Juice Wrld as "unmemorable". Solomon went on to remark that the album is "perfectly crafted to please crowds, to slip into your consciousness without you really realising [sic]".^[21] In a similar review, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis described the album as "a plethora of well-worn 21st-century pop tropes – tropical house sounds, post-Tame Impala floaty synths – but nothing you would describe as novel in the music or lyrics". He likened Maroon 5 to blank canvas, saying that the band was "reliant on guest artists to inject personality and songwriters and producers to come up with the goods". He highlighted Bantu and Thee Stallion's contributions, describing them as "fiery" and "a surprise", respectively, but went on to describe the rest of the album as a "mixed bag", and remarked that the songs felt "too calculated for their own good".^[20]

Track listing[]

Notes[]

• Regarding the digital versions of the album, the original version of "Memories" only appears on the deluxe edition, as track 11, followed by the remix as track 12.^[26][27]
• ^{^[m]} indicates a main and vocal producer
• ^{^[a]} indicates an additional producer
• ^{^[c]} indicates a co-producer
• ^{^[v]} indicates a vocal producer

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from Tidal.^[28]

Maroon 5

• Adam Levine – vocals (all tracks), guitar (9)
• Jesse Carmichael – guitar (5, 7–12), keyboards (7, 11–12)
• James Valentine – guitar (1, 2, 4, 5, 7–12)
• Matt Flynn – drums, percussion (5, 8, 10–12)
• PJ Morton – keyboards (5–12), organ (4)
• Sam Farrar – bass (5–7), keyboards (11–12), additional vocals (5, 7)

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

Charts[]

Certifications[]

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[54]	Gold	500,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history[]

References[]