222/InterscopeMaroon 5′s “Girls Like You,” from their current album Red Pill Blues, has become a massive smash — it’s currently #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and YouTube named it the Global Song of the Summer. But Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine says ironically, the song almost didn’t make it onto the album.
“It was the very last song that was added to the record and that usually happens,” James tells ABC Radio. “Usually you think you’re done with a record, and then one more song comes and you’re like, ‘OK, we gotta cut this one.’”
James describes “Girls Like You” and its star-studded, female empowerment-themed video as “very special” — and of course, Cardi B’s guest appearance hasn’t hurt its popularity, either. But on a purely musical level, he explains why he thinks it’s been connecting with listeners.
“To me it’s just a really straight ahead, very classic pop song with another really, really ear worm sorta chorus,” he tells ABC Radio. “It was written with Jason Evigan and an amazing songwriter named Starrah. They also worked on [our previous hit] ‘What Lovers Do,’ and so it kinda continues in that vein.”
You can hear Maroon 5 play “Girls Like You” — and a bunch of their 20 other top 40 hits — when their Red Pill Blues tour starts up again on September 7 in Salt Lake City, UT.
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