John Mayer has always
been known for being a contemporary, blues rock musician. His past albums all
staying true to his distinct sound, but in his newest release, Born and Raised,
Mayer continues with his bluesy, melodic tunes, but veers off course with his
song, "The Age of Worry." Although the song can be clearly recognized
as Mayer's with its soothing melody, and lyrics involving love, he incorporates
a new folk sound that not only helps magnify his message about love and growing
up, but also identifies an uprising trend in popular music.
Mayer identifies his song as a take on contemporary folk
by using commonalities found in other popular folk rock songs. He uses things
such as rustic guitar strumming, and tambourines which are associated with folk.
The strumming correlated with folk is created by either playing a banjo or
certain notes on a guitar that will give a similar sound. Another aspect Mayer
includes is humming, or “oo-ing” the melody of the song, which iterates how
important the arrangement is in identifying this style of music.
Although the arrangement is important in categorizing,
“The Age of Worry” as folk rock, Mayer also uses it to get his message across
to the audience. The melody Mayer creates feels like he’s telling a story. It’s
catchy and light-hearted which captures the listener’s attention. Staying true
to previous songs, he talks about love. First listening to it, it may not be
clear in the sense that it seems like a typical John Mayer song in that he’s
saying you don’t necessarily need love and not to worry about anything.
However, listening to it again, his chorus reveals that he’s saying don’t be
afraid to be alone. In the past, when Mayer wrote about not needing love it was
more negative and directed toward his past relationships. In, “The Age of
Worry” he takes a new approach to song writing. The song isn’t directed toward
any particular group or person, but rather a vast array of audiences. The “Age
of Worry” is essentially being alone in a world where people are afraid of
being on their own. The lyrics accompanied with the folk inspired melody aids
in communicating Mayer’s message. The sound is soothing, and uplifting
conveying that being alone can be a gift. It helps emphasize the idea one
shouldn’t be “worried” about breaking up with someone, or embarking on life by
themselves.
Using the contemporary folk style can also be a tactic to
show he’s grown up. In, “The Age of Worry,” Mayer puts music to poetry rather
than putting lyrics to chords. He’s always focused on creating blues, pop music
and showing off his abilities on the guitar. However, in this song, it’s
apparent it’s more important to John Mayer to give advice to his listener’s
through his lyrics. He’s always been known for his love songs, but also being a
heart-breaker which is what inspired his writing. He wants to show his various
audiences he’s grown up by telling them what he’s learned from his mistakes and
how he’s grown as a man. By incorporating folk rock with his bluesy style, he’s
able to reach a wider audience so they can experience his growth as a person
and artist but also learn from his life.
Mayer,
always one to appreciate the arts, may not have done anything drastically
different or created a new revolution in music with, “The Age of Worry” but he
did highlight a recent trend in music while incorporating it into his signature
style. Contemporary folk rock has been done before, by a variety of other
artists, but it’s becoming more popular by those who haven’t necessarily been
listening to it. The fact that Phillip Phillips won American Idol with his folk
rock song “Home” shows the growing interest in the genre. “The Age of Worry” is
an example of the iconic pop artist John Mayer has always been. He was able to
keep his blues sound, and combine it with contemporary folk to create the
perfect song for his album, further showing his ability to grow and experiment
as an artist.
Listen to it! The Age of Worry- John Mayer
