The pop-rock band Maroon 5 recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of their first album, Songs About Jane. While the anniversary may have brought back nostalgic feelings to the band’s early days, the release of their new album, Overexposed, shows how far the band has come in terms of expanding their style.

Maroon 5 has been criticized for making songs that all sound the same over the span of their three albums. Their fourth album, Overexposed, tackles this problem head on. While Maroon 5 has been widely considered a pop-rock band, Overexposed seems to be a largely pop album in an effort to continue the band’s success at topping the charts. The album’s new direction may be a disappointment to several fans as it almost completely sheds its rock side, but the change does bring several high-quality songs on the new album.

The first song on the album, “One More Night”, is one of several upbeat songs, yet it is unique in the fact that it is the only song with traces of reggae. The song is about a bad influence that lead singer Adam Levine can’t seem to resist: “But baby there you go again, there you go again, making me love you.”

The second track, “Payphone”, was released as a single before the album and was already popular by the time the rest of the album came out. “Payphone” also reflects the expanding course Maroon 5 is taking, as they teamed up with rapper Wiz Khalifa in their song, a first for them. The song takes on the tone of a lost heartbreak: “If happy ever after did exist/I would still be holding you like this.” Although the attitude of the song is tragic, “Payphone” is still an up-beat tempo that fans have already begun to enjoy.

While the majority of the album is upbeat, one song stands out in its different nature. “Sad”, written by Levine, is not unique in the meaning behind the song, but in the song itself. Levine is known for being able to reach high notes, but he starts the song in such a low pitch that he is almost unrecognizable. “Sad” truly reflects its title in the regretful meaning in the lyrics and the depressing music: “Oh, but I’m scared to death that I may not find another one like this, and I confess that I’m only holding on by a thin, thin thread.” The song is one of the band’s most vulnerable works out of their four albums. In fact, the song highlights one of the album’s flaws. While it makes sense to release an album in the summer full of fun songs that may become summer hits, some of Maroon 5’s greatest songs are their slower, more heartfelt ones, such as “She Will Be Loved” and “Out of Goodbyes.” Overexposed could have used more of these kinds of songs.

Listeners that may be tired of the album’s club-friendly tunes will be happy to hear the last song on the album, “Beautiful Goodbye.” Although the title is not very creative considering the song, “Sweetest Goodbye” on the band’s first album, the track itself is very different. The style of “Beautiful Goodbye” is similar to several of the band Train’s songs. The tone is bittersweet, yet cheery: “And I remember your eyes were so bright/When I first met you, so in love that night.”

Overexposed is definitely different from the rest of Maroon 5’s previous albums. Yet they present the alterations while continuing to have a few songs that have their old style. While the album drops all of their rock influences, Maroon 5 still manages to produce several strong, successful songs. Overexposed should be given a chance as an album out of Maroon 5’s comfort zone that contains an array of good songs for any fan of pop music.