Ladykiller

Album: Overexposed (2012)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Adam Levine begging a femme fatale to come back to him from her new boyfriend. The Maroon 5 frontman penned the song with guitarist James Valentine and bassist Mickey Madden. Valentine recalled to Ultimate Guitar: "One day I was talking to Mickey Madden and it was like, 'Let's just come up with a couple song titles' and he came up with the titles 'Ladykiller' and 'Fortune Teller. He said, 'Those sound like good sounding names.' We were on the road and I'm always sort of tinkering around with riffs and ideas and track ideas in Logic Pro. I looked at 'Ladykiller' and I ended up sort of writing a song with first-draft lyrics and then played it and Adam was into it and he added to the lyrics and tweaked a couple of the melodies to suit more of where he would sing it."

Comments: 1

  • Nicole from ReadingNot to be that person, but I'm pretty sure the song is about a girl leaving the singer for another girl....

    "Baby she'll eat you live
    As soon as she smells your blood in the water
    You better run to survive
    Before she makes you her latest slaughter
    How could you do it?
    Oh, just come back to me, baby I'm begging please
    How could you do it?
    Oh she knows I love you still, you're just her latest kill"

    Doesn't sound to me like he's talking to the same person from different perspectives... Sounds more like he's begging his ex-girl to come back to him and leave the girl she started dating after him because the new girl is a ladykiller. The love interest in this song is probably bisexual.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Cy Curnin of The Fixx

Cy Curnin of The FixxSongwriter Interviews

The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"They're Playing My Song

It wasn't her biggest hit as a songwriter (that would be "Bette Davis Eyes"), but "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" had a family connection for Jackie.

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's, Blues Brothers)

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's, Blues Brothers)Songwriter Interviews

Steve Cropper on the making of "In the Midnight Hour," the chicken-wire scene in The Blues Brothers, and his 2021 album, Fire It Up.

Julian Lennon

Julian LennonSongwriter Interviews

Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.