John Mayer: Heartbreak Warfare

John Mayer is back, well he was back a few months ago but this album was so great that I thought it was worth saying something about. The 00' guitar god is back with a new album called Heartbreak Warfare. A very touching title but really has nothing to do with the book that the name is derived from, Battle Studies. This album, similar to Kanye's influences for 808's & Heartbreak, some of the most intimate songs John has ever written. This is really the anti-Room For Squares, replacing very juvenile and naive songs like Your Body Is A Wonderland with songs like Friends, Lovers, or Nothing, a song influenced by a song about the struggles of trying to be friends with an ex. Battle Studies being the follow-up album to '06 Continuum, which is considered his biggest accomplishment, is a hard act to follow. This album was dark and daring, hinting at subjects that most celebrities shy away from like getting stoned, forgetting peoples names, having sex with random women just for the hell of it. John Mayer strolling around town, hating paparazzi, flirting with girls in hot-tubs in Mexico, and arguing with Perez Hilton via Twitter, seems like a very distant person than John Mayer the song writer. His lyrics are intense and poetic, lines like "I want you so bad I'll go back on the things I believe, I just said it, I'm scared you'll forget about me." To stay tuned to his usual status as Slowhand Jr. all of John's songs are tuned with experience and rich guitar, getting back to his acoustic roots during a few songs on the album. John Mayer hit the ground running with his first album and single, "Your Body is a Wonderland", so we had to endure that 'poppy' music on radio for a year, well now that year of poppy pain has paid off, with the final result, Battle Studies.