I may be just a bit biased, but indie-group AJR’s The Maybe Man, their fifth studio album, is something special. Every bit of production, the lyrics, and the emotion in each song has made The Maybe Man one of the top new albums on the charts in the “alternative” and “indie” categories, and not just myself, but so many folks that aren’t even AJR fans have enjoyed the album. As AJR is my favorite band, I couldn’t be more proud of the guys for being able to portray their raw feelings of the last few years of their lives into an album.
The trio of brothers that make up AJR went through a ton these last few years, the most notable being their dad passing away in July of this year. AJR didn’t sit and mope about everything, but instead they sat down and wrote an entire album about all the crap they had to endure in the last few years of their lives, and as they told podcaster Zach Sang in a recent interview, that’s what they “know how to do,” and that’s what they said they knew they needed to do in order to get past it all.
The Maybe Man in total has 12 tracks, with the 13th track being pushed off the album. This song will be released at some point in the months to come, but no date is set in stone yet. TMM is emotional, it’s vibrant, and it’s arguably, in my eyes, the best album AJR has put out in their 18-year career, which all started with street-performing in New York in July of 2005.
Let’s dive into each song, shall we? The start of the album hails a song called “Maybe Man.” This track talks about how the protagonist in Jack Met wishes he were anything other than himself, but he realizes even though he wants to be all of these things there are immense negatives that come with these new facets of himself.
The opening lyrics, “Wish I was a stone, so I couldn’t feel. You’d yell in my face, it’d be no big deal. But I’d miss the way we make up and smile. Don’t want to be stone, I changed my mind. I wish I had eyes in the back of my head. Then I could see the places I’ve been. But then I would know that you’re talking s***. I don’t wanna know what my friends think,” are able to capture the prior points here, saying how even though you may want to be anything other than you, you shouldn’t be, and there are going to be losses if you become these different things.
Jack Met ends up going on and on and on about all the things he could be, the good things that could happen, but also the negatives that would overtake the initial excitement of being “not you.” He eventually starts screaming that he could be super tall, being as big as his house, that he could be God, he would never trip up, and the ending of “Maybe Man” is a huge blowup of everything, with a voice saying “One, two, pandemonium” as the instrumentals are ramped up into this huge, massive ending and hurrah. Almost as cool of a fact is AJR confirming that each verse of “Maybe Man” connects back to each song on the album to follow. So listen closely.
It’s a strong opening to give listeners some background into where the album will take them, as the guy called the “Maybe Man” seeks to find himself.
Next up is “Touchy Feely Fool,” where Jack is speaking about his tendencies to be attached too quickly to things, and that a certain someone in his life (who is kept private) really messed up his life, and he wants to not “have to give a s***” about this person. He opens the song by saying that he isn’t “too superstitious,” but he seeks “to get the guts” to tell this person “off.”
He calls himself a “touchy feely fool” in the chorus, as he always seems to “crawl back” to that person in his life each day and he can’t seem to will himself to “not give a s***” about this individual. Jack eventually is so willing to get away from thinking about this person that he is alright with being taught “to be ruthless,” “unfeeling too.” Overall, the lyrics provide a nice metaphor for not only trying to not think about someone that hurt you, but also for something you are going through, not wanting to have to do anything with this thing you are enduring. The instrumentals have a very strong and calming vibe to them, which is an interesting complement to the heartfelt and “angry” lyrics Jack puts out into the track.
Likely AJR’s most popular song on the album pre-release, “Yes I’m A Mess,” is the next song on “The Maybe Man.” The whistles and bass at the beginning are able to catch your attention very quickly, and overall this song has a “western” vibe to it, which AJR said they had kept tucked away for four years before they were able to figure out the right concept for the song. They tried a song called “Lucky Day,” they tried one called “So What?,” and both of those songs with the “western” feel didn’t quite work for them.
So they tried “Yes I’m A Mess,” a song about how at low points in your life, and everything is crumbling around you, you might want to just “restart” your life, have a fresh slate of problems to tackle, as Jack said in that Zach Sang interview – and do everything over again. The chorus hits this home, with “Yes I’m a mess with an S on my chest, got stress filling up my head. So I spent last night blowing up my life, now you won’t see me again.” However, the back half of the chorus, “Cheers to the front, cheers to the back, and cheers to the 2010’s. I could hate my guts when the sun comes up, but I like myself like this” contradicts those prior statements with the sentiment that you know you can’t restart in life, so cheers to your life and saying “Hey, I like myself just the way I am.” The final moments of the song take the vocals of “I like myself like this” and slow them down, reverb them, and slow down the entire pitch of the song into something that can be seen as, “Ok, my problems aren’t cool, and I need to fix them.”
This upcoming song certainly isn’t dumb, and if you want a detailed analysis on “The Dumb Song,” the fourth song of “The Maybe Man,” go ahead and click here. The toned-down version of that song is the fact that in life, you won’t be perfect. You may look dumb at times. However, don’t be afraid to be yourself, and be proud of who you are, even if others can see what you do each day as dumb or not what they usually would do.
The fan-favorite on the album is detailed below, and it’s also my favorite on the album. It’s called “Inertia.” It almost didn’t make it onto the album, per a video posted on AJR’s Instagram and Twitter/X pages, but the song has captured the hearts of fans, myself included.
Using the physics term as the title and a main idea in the song, AJR grasps onto the idea of being “an object in motion” and just living life as it comes, as they also try to get out of the stuckness they are experiencing. AJR said in their interview with Zach Sang that the verses all talk about “someone in their life,” and what they have said or what they tried to do.
The first verse says “I’ve worn the same skinny jeans since I was 15, it’s probably nothing,” implying that Jack, the main protagonist here once again, has been the same person since he was 15, knowing that the real him won’t change, and he even says “I guess this is just what I am” right before the chorus hits you with “I’m an object in motion, I’ve lost all emotion, my two legs are broken but look at me dance! An object in motion, don’t ask where I’m going, ‘cause where I am going is right where I am.” The chorus does a great job of telling the listener that not only Jack but *they* should try not to change anything about themselves and just be their authentic selves.
The music video, which was released on November 29th, uses the concept of clocks and objects moving the lead singer Jack Met around to hammer home the point of “Life is whatever it needs to be for you, don’t try to change much, because it’s all going to mean something later. Just live life as it comes.”
The song has a great instrumental throughout that is very “poppy” and vibrant as the chorus takes you through to the next verses, and the messaging of “Inertia” can be seen very clearly.
“Turning Out Pt. iii” is the following song, and it completes the trilogy of “Turning Outs” that fans lobbied for once “Turning Out Pt. ii” was on AJR’s third studio album, Neotheater.
Each of these songs take listeners into the “real side” of love. Love isn’t like in the movies is the message of each of these tracks, and “Turning Out Pt. iii” is the main protagonist in Ryan Met, the middle brother of AJR, progressing in his thoughts on love, just like he did on “Turning Out Pt. ii” and Jack Met did in “Turning Out,” released on AJR’s second studio album, The Click.
“Turning Out Pt. iii” hits home early on with the lyrics, “Well, I wanted to be wanted, suddenly I’m wanting more,” stating that although he may have found the perfect girl for him, he wants the relationship to progress into marriage, which he says with “Quick, let’s get married,” and the chorus continues with “Man, I wish we were 85! The rest of our life wouldn’t sound so scary,” implying that he just wants to live blissfully with this perfect girl and not go through what other relationships are bound to go through.
The most impactful lyric in the song, which Jack has said is his favorite of the entire album, “‘Cause half the time I can’t love right, and I’m half yours, and you’re all mine,” is what Ryan said he experienced with his future fiancee in Catharina Capps, saying on the Zach Sang Show that Cat loved him completely but Ryan still had some doubts about whether or not he loved Cat back in a complete way. The ending lyrics of “Love isn’t big kid, it’s little and quiet,” and “Let’s do today, I think you’ll turn out to like it” are a great tie back to the first part of the “Turning Out” trilogy, telling Jack that love isn’t like a Disney movie.
Next up is “Hole in the Bottom of My Brain,” where Jack talks about there being a “hole” in his brain, and when he parties, when people “like” him and “love” him, and when he makes and spends money the hole disappears. It’s a very “Beatles-like” song in terms of the instrumental and the melody, and the lyrics are woven together, in the words of AJR fan @oneminutexold on Twitter, like the “12 Days of Christmas” song, where the newest verse starts with the newest lyrics and it goes all the way back to the original lyrics at the end. It’s a very fun song, and it doesn’t have a crazy meaning, as it is pretty clear based on the lyrics and the name of the song itself what it’s about.
We have “The DJ is Crying for Help” next, and this song discusses feeling like you hit your peak in life, and you have nothing left to offer except for getting “high,” and people around you have said that you have hit your peak and there is nothing left to give. The chorus is a great reflection of another prominent idea in the song – trying to still be your prior self as you are getting older, while also feeling grown up, with “Hey now, hold up, we were fun as h***, I’m all grown up but you couldn’t tell, now I don’t know what to do with myself. You got older ‘cause you’re good at life, I’m all 17 at 35.” The verses are able to capture how everything around the DJ is changing, such as pills being prescribed instead of people just “tripping” on them, and bills stacking up – but not in a good way. The instrumentals, led by the soothing violin in the chorus, capture the feeling of thinking you have hit your peak, but also trying to convince others that you are just like them, too.
The “oldest” song on the album – released in July of 2022 – is “I Won’t,” and this song is saying that others will try to convince you to do what they want you to do, but you don’t have to give into the crap that they want you to participate in, and just go your own way.
The opening lyrics of “Put your hands up, ‘cause I won’t. Raise a glass up, ‘cause I won’t. Get your a** up, ‘cause I won’t. I must’ve missed the hype, but maybe that’s the way I feel” capture the song’s message right from the get-go. The first verse ends with “And pretty people yell at me to follow the dance. So I do what you tell me to and do it to death – but I can’t do this s*** again” keep moving along that idea of “beating your own drum” in whatever you do. The verses are able to speak to folks about a guy who does everything people tell him to, so sometimes he may be running “on adrenaline and one-hour naps” and he may try to “press his chest” to look like his friends. Overall, the message is very clear and it may just give you the confidence to say “I won’t” to what you don’t want to do with your life.
This next track is one that AJR stated in their interview with Zach Sang was written to be a “fun song,” and the meaning of it isn’t supposed to be something crazy big, per say.
It’s called “Steve’s Going to London,” and it just follows what some people do in their daily life, and it may be a bit peculiar what they may be doing. For example, while Steve is going to London, Shawn gets “stuck in a suit,” Tom goes and “sleeps on his best friend’s lawn” nearly “every afternoon,” Dan went ahead and “peed in the pool,” and Tom “fell for” that best friend’s Mom.
The back half of the song sees the tempo change completely as Jack starts singing about writing a song, about writing a song. He says he tries “hard to write a cool song,” so he started with something easy, like aiming to put his “shoes on.” Then he tried to “write a cool song” by putting on the news, and then listening to Kendrick Lamar as well as “playing a swimming pool song,” but those things didn’t work either. Overall, “Steve’s Going to London” is a witty, fun, and playful song discussing some of the weird actions our friends do… but it’s just life.
We are almost done! The most emotional song on the album, arguably, is “God is Really Real,” as AJR wrote about their dad, Gary, getting cancer and the early emotions they felt when they found out. In the Zach Sang interview I have mentioned before, Jack Met stated that Ryan wrote the song two days after they found out their dad got cancer, to really capture the “raw emotion” they felt at that time. The simplistic guitar melody and vocals make this song one Gary loved himself and cried to when he first heard it, as AJR said in that interview.
Finally, we have “2085,” the concluding song on The Maybe Man. Based on the title, you can likely tell where the song is heading. AJR takes a dive into what they will be in 2085, and the subject of still not knowing who they are, even after all these years to figure it out. The start of the song details how the lead protagonist in Jack Met, if he knew he would die at the age of 40, would have tried to grow up instead of writing his “dumb songs” and his “growing up songs.”
In the chorus, Jack states how he “would hate to die” before he is able to get his head together, because he still wants to know who he is before he is gone. The fourth verse of the song states “And go tell your grandson, to go tell his grandson, you don’t have to try so hard, ya know. ‘Cause I spent my whole life tryna be so liked, that only made ‘em hate me more,” which is a circle back to the opening song on TMM, “Maybe Man,” where Jack states towards the end “Hey, I’ll be whatever makes you a fan,” implying that when Jack tried to be like his peers and not be himself, it backfired on him, ultimately making his friends dislike him even more.
The ending of “2085” reuses the end of “Maybe Man,” as the ending chorus/vibrant sounds lift up into a bigger thing, and the song ends with an emotional “But 2 or 3 minutes, then I’m GONE,” which is also used in “Maybe Man.”
Arguably the most heart wrenching lyrics in the song, “You gotta get better, you’re all that I’ve got,” and “I’ve gotta get better, I’m all that I’ve got,” take the idea of begging a friend of yours, or as a fan theorized and Jack confirmed on the Zach Sang Show, Jack speaking to his father to improve in his health, because he is all that is keeping Jack complete. The other side of the coin is realizing that you can’t rely on a friend or a family member to get better to make you better, you have to be better and make sure you are good, because you are the only person you can rely on.
All in all, AJR’s newest album, The Maybe Man, has certainly gotten popular, and maybe you will take something away from it, maybe applying a song on the album to your own life. Because maybe you will be guided to find yourself that way. And, maybe, just maybe, you will enjoy the album.