The vetted pop group Maroon 5 called upon emerging phenomenon Megan Thee Stallion to deliver an elevated new track, “Beautiful Mistakes.” The dynamic single signals the band’s upcoming seventh album is underway.
Videos by American Songwriter
Maroon 5’s previous features, including SZA, A$AP Rocky, Future, Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar, and Cardi B, have expanded their sonic palette, aiding in maintaining relevance over two decades on a quickly shifting pop-culture stage. Frontman Adam Levine joined Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to discuss how their most recent collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion brought this song to “a whole new level.”
“It’s almost kind of this great symbiosis that occurs between whoever the feature is and the band, where it’s at this great moment where we feel like we really have read the right timing,” Levine told Lowe. “And it’s nice, because it opens up our eyes to new things, and theirs as well, so it’s really been great. And, yeah, it’s like Megan is 100% meets all the criteria for just this really special person, super talented, having a moment.”
The rap artist, whose proper name is Megan Pete, is nominated for four Grammys this year, including best new artist. Picking up momentum with last year’s “Savage (Remix)” with Beyoncé and her chart-topping Cardi B collaboration, “WAP,” Pete’s career has centered on virality.
Her rap interlude on “Beautiful Mistakes”—produced by Adam Goldstein and Blackbear—blend melodically into the heart wrenching pop beat. Levine’s guitar-driven melody blissfully relives a past life with his ex-lover until Pete steps in like a rude awakening to bring him back to the real world. Her raw-edged lyrics culminate into what Levine describes “couldn’t have been a more epic kind of climax for the song.” After airing grievances, Pete’s fighting words taper into something uncharacteristically soft, revealing a newfound side of her talent.
Due to the pandemic, much of the work for “Beautiful Mistakes” was completed at a distance. When they could finally join forces to film the video, Levine was able to share his thoughts.
“I was like the little break where you go to the melodic thing, to be honest, it actually shows this new kind of branch of what she does, and this new versatility that she’s going to show everybody right now,” Levine described. “And I was so, I remember when I heard it, I was like, ‘oh, that’s big. That’s a side of her I had never really heard yet.’
“She is a superstar, but really in the truest sense, man, she’s all class, and just we had the best time shooting the video, and it was just a lot of fun, man,” Levine continued.
Listen to Maroon 5 featuring Megan Thee Stallion’s latest, “Beautiful Mistakes,” below.
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