The Search for Everything
On the surface, John Mayer already has everything: guitar-god status, an honorary membership with the Grateful Dead, a trove of GRAMMY®s and Rolexes. But everything feels like nothing when you don\'t have someone to share it with, especially when you’re nearing 40 and humbled by heartbreak. This album is about his quest for forgiveness, companionship, family, and meaning—the *real* everything. In classic Mayer fashion, it’s deeply sentimental and a little existential. On “In the Blood,” he ponders his fate with his heart on his sleeve: “How much of my mother has my mother left in me? How much of my love will be insane to some degree? And what about this feeling that I’m never good enough? Will it wash out in the water or is it always in the blood?”
John Mayer suffers simultaneously from an excess of taste and an oblivious lack of it. It makes his seventh studio album neither sensitive nor scuzzy, just pleasantly bland.
Editor’s note: Unfortunately, today’s biggest release, Kendrick Lamar’s Damn., wasn’t made available to press in advance, so we’re only hearing it today, too. Look for our review early next week. In the meantime, here are reviews of some of the other notable releases on this otherwise relatively quiet day.
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