4. Paradise Valley (2013)
Best Track: Paper Doll Worst Track: Youre No One til Someone Lets You Down Keeping up with his newfound musical style of writing folk, country music, Mayers newest release was Paradise Valley which was released in August 2013. There werent many fans of this album, receiving mixed reviews from critics and fans. But I believe that Paradise Valley is a piece of art, it needs to be analysed and requires a couple of listens to fully grasp and appreciate the effort and work Mayer put into this album. The newest single that was released on the album Who You Love which does feature Katy Perry was a really nice, touching, easy to listen to song. Many praising it as the best song on the album with Perry providing what I believe to be her best vocals on a track. While Paper Doll in my opinion would be the best song on the album, which provided listeners with some vintage Mayer and one of his best ever tracks. Songs that include On the Way Home, I Will Be Found (Lost At Sea) and Badge and Gun were all good written pieces of music and gave the album what it needed. But the standout song from the album would be opening track Wildfire. It gave a great rock vibe, awesome guitar solo, nice country summer lyrics all with a great arrangement resulting in an instant hit. Commercially, the album was successful selling a lot of copies, almost a year since his previous album was released, fans were seeing Mayers second album of adapting to country rock. The overall feel of this album was pretty chilled, relaxed and a fun album to listen too. As mentioned earlier Wildfire is the pinnacle to the album and hearing that opening rift gave me goosebumps. The style of the album is a refreshing one and one that should be up there with the best. Plus Frank Ocean even made an appearance, so what more could you want! As a whole Paradise Valley is a really good album, in personal opinion I thought many were harsh in the way they criticised the album. Paradise Valley is definitely an album that grows on you and does contribute quality music as we continue to see the evolution of John Mayer as a songwriter and performer.