Adam Levine – the road to stardom

You might wonder what got into me to write an article about Adam Levine? Well, his hotness got into me (oh, that didn’t come out right)! Besides, philosophical questions that needed answers come to mind last night while watching the latest episode of The Voice.

Can you believe that the scrawny boy from back when the video for “This Love” appeared has transformed into this beautiful butterfly?:)))))

So yeah, I’m a total "main-streamer" and like Maroon 5 a lot – they have those kind of albums that you can listen from start to finish and  honestly say you loved all the songs.   

But before Maroon 5, Adam Levine was just like the rest of us - trying to make it in the (music) world.

His first band, Kara's Flowers was created in high school when they landed a record deal with Reprise. The band released an album called The Fourth World in 1997. They even appeared in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 (the original) but I honestly don’t remember it and I was watching it religiously back in the day. The album had little success, and its only single, "Soap Disco", wasn’t popular enough - so the band was dropped by the label.

After that failure Levine headed to New York with Jesse Carmichael to attend college. This was a good move as they were exposed to a whole new music scene and absorbed new influences, mainly hip-hop, R&B, soul and gospel. Having that whole new world around him changed Levine's perspective on songwriting, even changed the way he sang – from a grunge-inspired delivery to a higher and more expressive one.

He actually worked as a writer’s assistant on the TV show Judging Amy  at one point before hitting the jackpot.

Levine and Jesse decided to drop out of school after a semester and headed back home where they reunited with Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick (former Kara's Flowers members) and added James Valentine in 2001 renaming the band Maroon 5.

They scored a new deal with Octone Records and released Songs about Jane in June 2002. This time around the album was good enough to land them a platinum record by 2004.

I bet not even Adam would have guessed that being a huge cry baby and writing an entire album about his ex girlfriend would turn out to be such a great thing! Because that’s exactly what he did - like every other normal person in the world (and I’m not talking Taylor Swift and her crazy writing ways) - he started writing lyrics about his ex-girlfriend, Jane.

Can you believe that heartless bitch did not even contact him after dedicating the whole album to her? That was in 2004 because by 2007, Levine referred to them as being “close friends”. She saw the error of her ways and possibly the new and improved shirtless Adam.

I mean, if a dude went to the trouble of writing amazing songs about me (which I’m sure it’s happening as we speak, we're talking multiple dudes here) I would at least write him an email or a twitter blast to acknowledge I was a muse.

I always wondered who Jane was! Didn’t you? Well, wonder no more: the girl that inspired Maroon 5`s first album `Songs About Jane” is none other than former `Vogue` editor, Jane Herman (she was actually fired form Vogue – I can smell a bit of scandal right there).
Jane and Adam Levine were high school sweethearts and dated for 4 years before splitting up. Jane Herman is now Gap’s Director of Concept (whatever that is) and lives in NYC (she’s the one in the photos below):

 

Don’t get your hope high though - the cruel truth is the days when he was spending his time crying like a little girl after ex girlfriends are behind him – he now has an only supermodels policy when it come to love. 

He’s partial to Victoria’s Secrets angels if we are to weight in Adam Levine’s current girlfriend, Behati Prinsloo, and the one before her, Anne Vyalitsyna  - both Victoria’s Secrets models. 

Anne Vyalitsyna and Adam Levine were together for 2 years and he hooked up with Behati just months after the split with Anne V. I bet the awkward can actually be touched in the Victoria’s Secrets locker-room. 

After the long string of Hollywood romances including Cameron Diaz and Maria Sharapova we can honestly answer no to the inevitable Is Adam Levine gay? question, followed by kind of  to Is Adam Levine Jewish? (he still identifies with his Jewish heritage but it isn’t, and never was a big part of his life) and a decided hell no to Is Adam Levine married? (I do prefer to keep my dirty thoughts for “single” guys).

Adam Levine's tattoos are hot! Just like the rest of him!

But the real surprise for me was that after I started watching The Voice where he is a judge/mentor, I realized there’s more to him than the musician. From my personal experience pretty boys ruin everything by talking, but he’s actually very articulate, smart and very funny.

What I was trying to say is that while he’s a true rock star cool tattoos included there’s something more to him than the usual clichés as he wasn’t always so sure of himself. Word is that he was terribly shy as a child and he played with his back to the audience at his first performance. Isn’t that just cute? 

He proclaims that he still is shyer that we may think saying: "The sad truth is that person in the tabloids is way cooler than I actually am," and "If you believed all the things written about me, you'd think I was a pimp."

I find that hard to believe coming from a man that did and said so many outrageous and inappropriate things. A bit late to pose as this innocent little lamb, ayn’t it, Adam?
I think the gap of time between the skinny front singer of Maroon 5 to the superstar he is today (being nominated for six People's Choice Awards in both music and television this year) was small and he got a little carried away.
He’s probably a self centered diva but hey, he has every reason to be like that (Adam Levine's net worth is currently a modest $15 million) so I’m not hating!

As shy as it gets - told you so!

Have you seen him in American Horror Story: Asylum? I watched just the first 5 episodes and Adam has a minor role, but he does makes the best of it (shirtless in the first 3 minutes) and I really hope his character will get more screen time soon.

What I hope will never happen is him leaving Maroon 5 - he stated in more than one interview that he doesn’t want to be with Maroon 5 forever and may plan to stop at some point. I don’t get why ruin a perfectly good thing, I do think he has enough talent to make it on his own but I hope he will stay with the boys - you can’t beat a good bromance!

Finally - I love Adam’s sense of style! Have you seen him work a cardigan? The boy is fierce! The mix of rock star and all American boy next door/geek is doing it for me. As he so eloquently puts it: "I'm into clothes, and that's basically it." 

He’s also a classic car lover traveling in style in a 1971 Mercedes 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet. No wonder he has a starring role in my permanent dream rotation. Too bad he’s shorter than me – Adam’s Levine height (somewhere between 178-181cm/5'11 depending on the site) is basically the only thing staying in our way. Otherwise is a sure thing - we're gonna happen!

Later edit: Adam Levine actually got engaged with his girlfriend Behati Prinsloo later in 2013 so we'll see how that goes!:)
But the real news is Adam recently colored his signature black hair (Mai 2014) and it's now a platinum blonde. Rarely has a change of look caused such controversy - Adam is obviously the new America's sweetheart and, as such, everybody has an opinion about it: me included. Here is what I think - Adam Levine is still hot as a blonde and on top of that I can make lots of jokes about his new hair color, so, thank you!

 Photos: 1, 2

Maroon 5’s newest album, "Overexposed" hit stores on June 26^th 2012 and it’s great but as far as Adam Levine songs go my all time favorite is still “She will be loved”.

Do you have a favorite Maroon 5 song? Do you even like Adam Levine?

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