John Mayer: Battle Studies

Release Date: 11/17/09
Genre(s): Pop, Acoustic Rock


I fought the John Mayer popularity craze when he started gaining momentum a few years back. The song "Your Body is a Wonderland," still makes me cringe, every single word of it. Unfortunately, every radio station in the country seemed to find some reason to play the song five times a day, and now I can quote every word. Thank goodness that phase of his career ended, and we were eventually introduced to his higher caliber work with Heavier Things. After hearing the track Daughters, my skepticism was pushed aside.
Most of John Mayer's albums find their strength not in the pop singles, but in the tracks between the radio cuts. To this day, I believe his best song is "St. Patricks Day," a song that has reached over 200 plays on my iTunes.
After the release of Continuum, I had come to expect that John Mayer was really moving forward as an artist. With that being said, I was sorely disappointed in Mayer's latest release, Battle Studies. Each of the eleven tracks sounds like the filler on his other albums. If and Room for Squares and Heavier Things were fused into one album, the result would be Battle Studies. Not that either album was bad, but for a man aspiring to be the next Stevie Ray Vaughn, I honestly expected more. Tracks such as "Half of my Heart" and "All We Ever Do is Say Goodbye," may actually have you checking to make sure you did purchase the new album, and not a remastered version of Room for Squares. 
Continuum gave us a raw, introspective version of Mayer. Whether it was his relationship with Jessica Simpson or Jennifer Anniston that returned Mayer to his bubble gum pop ways, I supposed we should cross our fingers and hope for some heartbreak to come Mayer's way, so he can go back to evolving as an artist. Battle Studies is a de-evolution of a clearly talented man at best, and a rehashing of old material at its worst. Save your money and just listen to Continuum instead, and wait for John Mayer to have his heart broken again.