Not a Review..

…but I have to get this off of my chest.

I waited until the midnight release and then stayed up into the wee hours of this morning trying to digest this tiny taste of magnificence laid before me. Before I say anything else, let me just scream this from the rooftops: 

A FUCKING PIANO BALLAD????!!!!!

My. Mind. Is. Blown. The argument exists that John Mayer is one of the top two or three guitarists that our generation has ever produced. It’s what the people notice. It’s what the people want. But not me. I’ve always been much more attracted to the inner-workings of a man seemingly as emotionally complex as they come. In his debut Room For Squares record, you heard one of his most recognizable electric guitar lines in ‘Neon’; I heard the terminal stressors of feeling exempt from deserving unconditional love in ‘Not Myself.’ In his sophomore album, you heard the catchy, radio-smashing reprise in ‘Bigger Than My Body’; I was writhing in the less popular lyrical phenomenon that is ‘New Deep.’ After all, the Heavier Things album title was a nod to the final stanza: 

“You know, I used to be the back porch poet

With my book of rhymes

Always open, knowing all the time, 

I’m probably never gonna find

The perfect rhyme

For ‘heavier things’ ”

So back to my original point: A FUCKING PIANO BALLAD?!?!?? “You’re gonna live forever in me” is (once more) A FUCKING PIANO BALLAD!!!!! This is big, you guys. Huge. Huge for psycho-fangirls such as myself that have had to downplay (ok, I don’t really downplay much of anything as far as JMay goes, BUT..) our appreciation for the lyrical and poetic genius he is, and always has been, as merely an afterthought to his masterful twinkle-fingers. Do you people understand that I’m a songwriter solely BECAUSE of this guy? I can barely even take myself seriously knowing this kind of talent exists, but his art is so relevant and relatable, I can’t help but to be enlightened. Fuck the guitar; I want his notebooks, his napkins, his scribbles and doodles and his therapist. His ability to convey an emotion–whether it be simple or complex–is so delicate yet somehow always so forth-coming and raw. It’s like mid-emotion he’s all, “wait, hold that thought, I have to write this down, right now, before I forget, even for a second, the pain/joy/confusion/question/obligation/content/release/hunger/abandonment/helplessness/etc..” 

He’s letting us in. He’s always been letting us in, but I have a feeling this record is not only going to be his most flagrant emotional exposure, but a challenge to the listener to be as flagrantly moved by something more than just a melody. His emotional position through written word has been so therapeutic for me, so “growing up” and witnessing his musical and artistic growth over the last 16 years or so has been both a great honor and feasible outlet for my own internal struggles. I’m terrible about being open emotionally, but if his music has taught me anything, it’s that complexities exist and emotional exposure and vulnerability, although ironic, can be quite the common ecstasy when they’re at the mercy of your own composition. I’ll tell you, John, I can count on one hand the men in my life who’ve not yet let me down and you’re one of them. Thank you for keeping yourself open, which in turn keeps me open as not only the pathetic-excuse-for-a-songwriter that I’ve become, but also as just a regular ol’ human being. Looking forward to wave two, and each wave after. “Here we go. Xx”