( EW.com ) -- Thanks to his role as a throne-swiveling talent scout on NBC 's hit singing competition The Voice , Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine is now a stand-alone star — one who seems awfully pleased to see his every move , from the silly beefs with fellow Voice coach Christina Aguilera to the flings with Victoria 's Secret models , get street-fliered across the media landscape . Which makes it all too tempting to put him to his own show 's test . What if we could listen to a new Maroon 5 album with our backs turned to the band ? If we did n't know about Levine 's trysts , his Voice image , and the band 's yo-yoing chart history ( including 2010 's disappointing Hands All Over and last summer 's smash `` Moves Like Jagger '' ) ? Would we still hear star potential in these boys from Brentwood ? In the case of `` Overexposed , '' Maroon 5 's fourth album in 10 years , the answer is mostly no . But not for lack of effort on their part : Inspired , perhaps , by the crossover appeal of `` Jagger , '' the group has drafted pop kingpins Max Martin , Benny Blanco , and Ryan Tedder — who regularly deal dope beats to Britney , Katy , Usher , et al . — to thoroughly Top 40-ify their game . So it 's hardly surprising that on much of the album , which never quite finds a balance between rock grit and dance-pop glitz , Maroon 5 barely sound like a band at all . Tracks like `` Love Somebody '' and the Coldplay-ish `` Daylight '' have choruses so thickly produced that the only physical instrument you can reliably pick out is Levine 's larynx . Not that he comes off as particularly organic either , since his voice is usually processed into a kind of high , disaffected whine — like a male Rihanna or an android castrato — that 's ideal for tracing the contours of a pop hook . His lyrics do n't help the songs make up much ground . `` Overexposed '' 's self-aware title is just about the strongest wordcraft on the album ; its verses alternate between horndog rhapsodies ( `` I light you up when I get inside , '' Levine sings on `` Doin ' Dirt '' ) and bratty put-downs of some Everygirl who always disappoints , whether she 's `` drown [ `` ing '' ] me in questions '' ( `` Fortune Teller '' ) , `` feeling so hollow '' ( `` Love Somebody '' ) , or just being `` such a f -- -ing snob '' ( `` Tickets '' ) . The exception is first single `` Payphone , '' an alchemy of elemental pop-rock building blocks that conjures virile longing in the same corny-graceful way as past M5 hits like `` She Will Be Loved . '' Levine 's voice soars , the piano and guitar hit notes of bitter nostalgia , and for once the words ' hurt feels real . And whether by Pro-Tooled magic or old-fashioned sweat , the song also sounds remarkably like it was recorded in a studio by musicians who actually came together to play as a band — even if one of them was only dropping by on his way to the soundstage . C+ . Best Tracks : . A tirade over lost love Payphone . A funk-spiked strut Lucky Strike . See the full article at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine is now a stand-alone star . The album never finds balance between rock grit and dance-pop glitz . Lavine 's voice is usually processed into a kind of high , disaffected whine .