Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine has a split personality: on one hand, he's a sexually charged exhibitionist who loves rolling around in the nude with supermodels for the band's notoriously steamy music videos; on the other hand, he shuns the spotlight, paparazzi and narcissistic world of celebrity. The R B-infused pop band's Grammy-winning debut album, Songs About Jane, was filled with tunes about his various trysts, as is new, relationship-obsessed record It Won't be Soon Before Long, which hits stores May 22. Still, Levine insists he's no Casanova playboy - he's just misunderstood.
"I like it. I'm weird like that," Levine explains of how he feels about stripping down for videos, such as breakout hit "This Love." "There's a part of my personality that's hard for my friends to understand - especially other members of my band - but it's just cool.
It feels very comfortable to me."
Levine admits he's "slightly" an exhibitionist - especially "in the right situation" - and he regularly rolls lyrical inspiration out of his bed sheets ("I wanna give you something better / Than anything you've ever had / A stronger and a faster lover / The world will disappear so fast," he sings on new track "Kiwi"). But he denies being the "playboy sleaze ball" the tabloids have made him out to be with rumoured romances with Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Kristen Dunst.
Still, he doesn't exactly shun his player reputation, either.
"I think they [the public] have a completely false idea of who I am, and I think that's great," he laughs. "I'd rather them think I'm this playboy sleaze ball, or whatever they think I am - a ladies man.
(I don't think it's gotten to the point where they think I'm a pig.) No matter what they think, A: it doesn't matter to me and, B: the farther away from my actual character it is, the better I feel. I think it's good to have some privacy.
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Contrary to popular perception, Levine describes himself as a shut-in who quickly learned the paparazzi-fuelled spotlight was not for him after Songs About Jane exploded, selling more than 10 million copies and rocketing him to superstardom.
"Like anybody, I got very excited about it. It was all very new to me.
I indulged a little bit and got involved, you know?" he says of the sudden attention. "But I almost immediately retracted from that and realized, 'This is stupid.
I'm out of here.' I literally disappeared ..
. I started spending so much time at home and just learning to be a person - learning how to do things I'd never known, like learning how to cook and having people over and having nice dinners and relaxing and enjoying stimulating conversations."
And Levine has no compassion for his fellow stars who are constantly hounded by pushy shutterbugs: he says they chose to live the public life, and if they want to give it back now, "then it's tough shit.
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"[There are] people that need to have their picture taken, that need to be in the press every day, that have to have tabloids of them taking a piss or going to the market or whatever the hell they're doing," he asserts. "It's insecurity and it's highly narcissistic behaviour. As narcissistic and insecure as I can get, I still don't have the capacity to be that way.
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Of course, the other side of Levine doesn't mind feeding his ego with the right kind of attention, namely that garnered by his music. And the spotlight is currently shining brightly on him, thanks to It Won't be Soon Before Long: lead single "Makes Me Wonder" has already jumped to No. 1, and buzz for the much-anticipated release, which was five years in the making, has reached deafening levels.
The record returns to common ground for Maroon 5 as it contemplates the same sort of heart matters heard on their debut, but, this time, the tracks have been funked up, gleaning inspiration from '80s pop and R B. A dash of aggression has also been added to the music torn from a lover's diary, culminating in a deeply intimate album that's just as danceable as anything Jamiroquai ever did. There is also an awful lot of Levine's dirty laundry being aired in the songs, which run the topical gamut of love, from messy break-ups to intimate encounters to jealous rages.
But the singer-songwriter says he doesn't feel at all uncomfortable about revealing such bedside secrets.
"I'm obviously talking about my life, and I spend most of it contemplating relationships, people, friendships, whatever it may be, weather it's a serious relationship with a woman or the excitement of a sexual encounter," he explains. "It's funny because, people always ask if I feel vulnerable, and I actually think it's more secretive because you're refusing to tell people who you're talking about.
It's really only very personal for me. People retain their anonymity. If even Jane was able to maintain hers, then anyone can.
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You see, Levine is just a simple guy who keeps his personal life mysterious by exposing it (and sometimes himself) to millions of people, and, of course, he wants to stay out of the media spotlight, despite being splashed on the cover of hundreds of magazines. Make sense?
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