A good friend of mine enjoys sending me new music, which I gladly accept, in order to expand my musical collection. Earlier this year she sent me Slowdancing In A Burning Room by John Mayer, the acoustic version and at first I was kind of iffy about it. I listened to it once or twice and kind of put it aside. At this point I was still all about more hardcore music and some entry-level hip-hop. A few weeks later I gave it another listen and something happened. I was instantly in love with the song and couldn’t get enough of it. It was my only John Mayer track but I couldn’t get enough.

Fast forward just under 6 months to today. I have three of his albums and his Where Is The Light, Live DVD. I bought myself an amazing John Mayer photo-poster and have developed a deep, deep love for John Mayer and his music. He announced his album-release show several weeks ago, and I bought my tickets just under four weeks ago to the Toronto show. His latest album, Battle Studies, was leaked some time last week. With widespread appraisal on YouTube, the album was officially released yesterday, November 17th. I have been giving it non-stop listens to fully develop my opinion on the album.

To start off, the first released single was Who Says. The video showcases John with friends around the city, having fun during the night and other shenanigans. The song itself is upbeat by comparison to other tracks and is quite catchy. There has been some speculation about this track because of John’s apparent stance on marijuana with this song. Regardless it’s a great song with an equally impressive video.

A quick blurb about the album now. Each of the 11 tracks is different and is memorable in its own way. My favourite song on the CD is Heartbreak Warfare, which is slower and has a more Slowdancing In A Burning Room feel to it, which probably accounts for my love of the song. Another really good song is War Of My Life, with a more upbeat tempo as well, it is single material for sure. One of the songs I looked forward to most was Half Of My Heart featuring teen sensation Taylor Swift. As good as the song is, Taylor is completely overshadowed by John and isn’t given a chance to shine in my opinion. Her parts are subtle but it is still a solid track. My final input is about Crossroads. This song has a John Mayer Trio feel to it. It sounds alot more instrumental and has a jazz/blues feel to it. It’s great and a good switch up to the usual melodies. The John Mayer Trio is a small band fronted by John and they play a section of the live DVD. They are more of a ‘jam’ band in my opinion, more focused on rhythms and the music then the singing itself.

Overall, another great release from John Mayer. I can’t wait to see him next week and potentially again in February when  he returns to actually do a tour for the album.

-steven