Mayer Hawthorne - Where Does This Door Go - Review

A talented artist is buried beneath his influences

Songwriter, Mayer Hawthorne, is a competent musician who knows how to write catchy pop music. On “Where Does This Door Go”, Hawthorne uses his influences liberally, drawing from geniuses like Michael Jackson and Steely Dan. Where as Michael Jackson touches people's hearts and souls, Hawthorne keeps things at a purely surface level. “Where Does This Door Go” is harmless fun music, but it is overly reminiscent of other artists and gets dull quickly.

Mayer Hawthorne spends most of the album channeling other artists. The jazzy track “Back Seat Lover”, is a sexy throwback jam that sounds like Chromeo with extra cheese. Hawthorne does his version of Bob Marley's “Mr. Jones” with the Rasta rhythm love song, “Allie Jones”.  “The Only One” is pop writing 101 and would fit right in on a Maroon 5 album. The most egregious example of imitation comes in the form of the Steely Dan rip off track “Reach Out Richard”. This track is so reminiscent of the Steely Dan song, “Peg” off their classic album “Aja”, that Hawthorn even changes his singing style to emulate that of Donald Fagen.

 

Hawthorne enlists the help of his friends throughout the album. Three songs on “Where Does This Door Go” are produced by N.E.R.D. mastermind and hit maker Pharrell Williams. All three tracks sound like quintessential Williams, with his musical voice shining brighter than Hawthorne's. Kendrick Lamar drops a verse on “Crime” that is a welcome change of pace, although his negative, gnarly vocals don't really fit in on this squeaky clean album.

What is going on with music today? First we had American Idol alum, Phillip Phillips blasting up the charts by doing his best Dave Matthews impression and now we have Mayer Hawthorne exploring multiple personalities by exploiting the styles of great artists that came before him. Taking influence is one thing, but copying another artist and selling it to a new audience as your own is just wrong. Hawthorne is a talented artist and he would do himself well to discover his own true voice. Listeners finally get a chance to meet the real Mayor Hawthorne on the closing track “All Better”. This beautifully simple song is genuine and true, revealing the talent that lies beneath the layers of influence.