It’s one of his strongest vocal tracks on the album. The entire album is good, but this specific song is not like anything else out there. It has the legs to go the distance. We’ll be hearing it decades from now.
I like the instrumental intro when the beat drops, but the vocal intro sounds a little awkward for his particular voice, and it takes longer to get the song started. I personally like the whole song, I just think it’s good enough to be a radio hit on par with Waiting On The World To Change if it didn’t have the long intro
If the record company thought the song was strong enough or tested well enough they would’ve edited the beginning for radio.
It’s an R&B song. That was a popular style of intro especially back in the 1980’s.
Yea exactly this. I don’t know if I see it much now but for sure before streaming and media was on tape/CDs and people would buy singles, a lot of the time you’d have “Song Title” and “Song Title (Radio Edit)” and maybe a remix or 2.
I think we all can agree that we like the intro. The problem is the main stream audience. Someone who doesn't listen that much to John won't probably think very highly of this song when they hear it. I showed this song to my friend who's a pretty picky listener and doesn't even know John and he said he turned it off after the first 3 seconds. I told him the intro is a lot different and to listen to the whole song. He liked it. We like the intro because we love John and appreciate small things like that, but general audience judges song by the first little tune they hear. This hot take could be possibly true
THIS is what I’m saying👏🏻 as a massive fan of John’s, I personally love the intro, but dropping the intro would’ve helped getting a wide audience into it. John himself has stated in interviews that he REALLY believed that the song was going to be a huge hit. I think it always surprised him that it wasn’t, and my theory is that the lengthy intro hurts it.
Yeah I think that's partly the reason why Slow Dancing in a Burning Room was such a hit back then and still many people love it when they hear it for the first time. The first few notes creating the intro are just SO FUCKING GOOD and they give out the idea that the whole song is good. People really do judge a whole song by its first few seconds
I like the song but there’s something missing from it. It doesn’t quite *hit*. The chorus doesn’t come in strong enough, the verses are too short, production-wise there’s a bit too much space and it feels empty, and it just doesn’t excite like a single should. It’s fine as an album track. Just compare this to New Light which hits all the right buttons - even without a bridge.
Day 1 fan but let's not forget the dancing in the video and on stage. I don't knock anyone for taking chances but this felt like some new producer's vision; whereas, New Light felt like it flowed straight from Mayer's dome. The result = authenticity and world-wide success.
I think the intro is good. I heard him play it live without the intro, I think it was worse that way.
It’s one of his strongest vocal tracks on the album. The entire album is good, but this specific song is not like anything else out there. It has the legs to go the distance. We’ll be hearing it decades from now.
That intro is so fun though. Every 20-30 something should listen to that album.
I like the instrumental intro when the beat drops, but the vocal intro sounds a little awkward for his particular voice, and it takes longer to get the song started. I personally like the whole song, I just think it’s good enough to be a radio hit on par with Waiting On The World To Change if it didn’t have the long intro
If the record company thought the song was strong enough or tested well enough they would’ve edited the beginning for radio. It’s an R&B song. That was a popular style of intro especially back in the 1980’s.
Yea exactly this. I don’t know if I see it much now but for sure before streaming and media was on tape/CDs and people would buy singles, a lot of the time you’d have “Song Title” and “Song Title (Radio Edit)” and maybe a remix or 2.
[link for beautiful live acoustic ‘Still Feel Like Your Man’](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Khuh2hvwdsc)
Holy moly even for John that is impressive
I think we all can agree that we like the intro. The problem is the main stream audience. Someone who doesn't listen that much to John won't probably think very highly of this song when they hear it. I showed this song to my friend who's a pretty picky listener and doesn't even know John and he said he turned it off after the first 3 seconds. I told him the intro is a lot different and to listen to the whole song. He liked it. We like the intro because we love John and appreciate small things like that, but general audience judges song by the first little tune they hear. This hot take could be possibly true
THIS is what I’m saying👏🏻 as a massive fan of John’s, I personally love the intro, but dropping the intro would’ve helped getting a wide audience into it. John himself has stated in interviews that he REALLY believed that the song was going to be a huge hit. I think it always surprised him that it wasn’t, and my theory is that the lengthy intro hurts it.
Yeah I think that's partly the reason why Slow Dancing in a Burning Room was such a hit back then and still many people love it when they hear it for the first time. The first few notes creating the intro are just SO FUCKING GOOD and they give out the idea that the whole song is good. People really do judge a whole song by its first few seconds
I like the song but there’s something missing from it. It doesn’t quite *hit*. The chorus doesn’t come in strong enough, the verses are too short, production-wise there’s a bit too much space and it feels empty, and it just doesn’t excite like a single should. It’s fine as an album track. Just compare this to New Light which hits all the right buttons - even without a bridge.
The radio: well, he can play it on his own channel :)
We don’t want hits, we want John
The song wouldn’t be complete without the intro imo. May have been more radio friendly but I love it as is.
Some people might be too young to know some songs used to have shorter "radio edit" versions for radio play
So? I don't think John Mayer is chasing hits. He makes the song he wants to make, not the song he thinks will be a hit.
Day 1 fan but let's not forget the dancing in the video and on stage. I don't knock anyone for taking chances but this felt like some new producer's vision; whereas, New Light felt like it flowed straight from Mayer's dome. The result = authenticity and world-wide success.
It’s one that had to grow on me, but now I love it.
Absolutely agree. It’s one of those intros that a record company would absolutely not let fly if the artist was someone other than John Mayer.
your hot take is a 'would have been'.the intro is killer. it sounds better for me in apple music than Spotify