John Mayer Takes Fans On a Tour of His Life in "Who Says" Video

John Mayer's video for "Who Says," the first single off his upcoming Battle Studies, gives fans a visual diary of one night in the life of John Mayer. As the lyrics suggest, Mayer spends "a long night in New York City," noodling around on an acoustic guitar, going out clubbing and dining at restaurants so that cool that cigarette smoking is actually permitted; seemingly one of those hazy, drunken nights where Facebook photos provide the only evidence of what happened hours earlier.

The juxtaposition of the frenzied night-on-the-town feel alongside the melancholy weariness of "Who Says" is an interesting combination, and Mayer gives fans a personal view of his days out of the spotlight and paparazzi lenses as he ventures to the Comedy Cellar to perform stand-up or sits in the booth of the club just watching people dance like he was Prince. Still, as evidenced by his Funny or Die videos and his overactive Twitter page, we wish for once that Mayer would embrace his comedic side and give us a video we could laugh it.

For instance, Mayer made us laugh today when we read his (maybe drunken?) interview with New York Magazine's Vulture, where Mayer threatened to sodomize an editor and gloated, "Have you ever heard me play guitar? I'm really fucking good. You know what I'm bad at? Answering questions about public health care." Regardless how you feel about Mayer, there's no denying that Battle Studies is out November 17th. For more on his new LP, check out our Fall Music Preview.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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