First off, let me say that 17-year-old me has been waiting for a breakup and self-discovery album that captures what Sob Rock is. It is reflective, introspective. It is a motivational pick-me-up. It is an ode to music’s nostalgic past while poignantly crafting a place in today’s soundscape. I can already tell, as a John fan, that I will listen to this three years from now and still be discovering the sound anew. But, as I listened to this album I couldn’t help but feel the album is a larger meditation of John Mayer’s place in the music industry and what will be his legacy.
Sob Rock's second song, "Shouldn’t Matter but It Does," offers a bittersweet ode to letting go of lost love. Recognizing faults and painfully accepting. A song not too overblown with emotion but comfortably striking to the core with lines like, “we could have been naming baby number three,” and then yieldingly resolving with, “It shouldn’t matter but it does.” A song that questions lives that could have been stunningly lived come to life when examining the expanse of John’s career. Does the notorious Playboy interview provide a catalyst for the song and the musician’s legacy in the era of #MeToo and "cancel culture" as it seeks to, some might argue rightfully, destroy it? Does it really matter? Change is something we often overlook and ever fail to consider.
"New Light" implies a guilty pleasure that you won’t indulge in. Is this John himself? How many gym bros and hard-core coffee drinkers live and die by John yet won’t say it? Afraid to defend who John is perceived to be? "New Light" implies John has changed – he is not his past. And, he beckons for you to listen. “If you give me just one light, you’re gonna see me in a new light,” calls out for someone to hear out the musician as he seeks to reclaim the ever-coveted acoustic-loverboy throne.
But the album is more than just a "sad boi" breakup album that questions a larger legacy. "I Guess I Just Feel Like" offers a rare reflective glimpse into what life was like two years ago. This is now becoming a cliché to say, but take a look at how much has changed over the last year: Are we are who we were so long ago? I’ve delved deep into the Roman Empire during this past year and we often don’t realize how casually things fade away. Our old selves, our old habits, our old patterns. One day we look in the mirror and recognize borders of a personality from a face so long ago but can’t recall when the crows' feet started to set in. Maybe, it is just us who have never changed. And instead, it was life who decided to make us question if things really were oh so good so long ago.
Sob Rock is more than meets the eye. It is part of Mayer’s legacy – but it is also something bigger. It’s Tarantino’s eighth film. It’s a pandemic seed. It’s a journal entry from a king long ago who offered a stark meditative philosophy. Give it time, give it a listen, and be prepared to come out different on the other side.
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How does Sob Rock line up against Mayer's past works? Let us know your ranking below in the comment section or holler at us on Twitter!
- Botts
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