Misery

Album: Hands All Over (2010)
Charted: 30 14
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the first single from American pop rock band Maroon 5's third studio album, Hands All Over. The song documents the decay of a relationship, familiar territory for the band. Frontman Adam Levine told MTV News: "'Misery' is about the desperation of wanting someone really badly in your life but having it be very difficult. Kind of what all the songs I write are about. I'm not treading on new ground, but I think a lot of people - including myself - deal with that all the time. Relationships are difficult, and it's good therapy to write about them."
  • Levine told MTV News about the Joseph Kahn-directed video. "The cool thing is, when Joseph wrote the treatment after reading a few sentences, I thought it was really amazing," he said. "Because it kind of turns the whole idea of the sexual energy between two people - a guy and a girl, a music video, you've seen that a million times - that exists in this video, but it's turning it on its ass and having the girl be the more domineering one who's trying to kill me."

    The clip was filmed in Los Angeles with Levine's girlfriend - Russian model Anne Vyalitsyna - playing the leading lady.
  • The female lead's attempts to kill her lover in the video results in plenty of action sequences. This meant that stuntmen were required to double up for the band members in some of the scenes. Levine admitted to MTV News: "I'll tell you a little secret... the stuntmen were so great, but they probably weren't too happy because they had to dress like us [for the video], which was hilarious, because we aren't the most masculine dressers. This dude who was [keyboardist] Jesse [Carmichael]'s stunt double was, like, really buff, and he has Jesse's little low-top Converse and skinny jeans on. The shoes were, like, falling off his massive ankles."
    Levine added: "I did a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff is me! But most of it wasn't very dangerous. Although, by the end of the day, even not being hit by things is such a physical thing that I was really kind of beat up. I was like, 'Man, even thinking I got my ass kicked feels like getting my ass kicked.'"

Comments: 3

  • Rabies from Usawhen i heard this song in 2017 i was like “this is so great! its so happy :D” but now im like “SEND YOUR PRAYERS TO GOD IN ORDER TO SAVE ADAM LEVINE”
  • Brett from Sutton, OnI really like the acoustic guitar version of this song.
  • Megan from Stevenson, AlSaw this on VH1 and totally freaked out! I was sooo happy that Maroon 5 came out with another album! These guys better make some more because they are AMAZING!
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