John Mayer Breaks Waves of Boundaries with "The Search for Everything"

How John Mayer is creating his own rules for creating and sharing new music

John Mayer is no amateur to major success in music, but with the release of his newest album, The Search for Everything, he’s changing up the norm quite a bit.

Most albums follow the usual trend of pre-release promotion with a set release date, and that’s that.

Mayer, the creative genius he is, is trying something entirely new when it comes to his 11th studio album.

The Search for Everything is no typical album; it’s being released in “waves.”

Wave One was the first segment of the whole to be released on January 20, after his song “Love On the Weekend” was released as the first new single.

The first wave featured four songs off of the new album, which gave listeners just a taste of what’s to come – enough to keep us all enticed without giving too much away.

Wave Two, the following release, was available for download February 24 with another four new songs.

The time drawn out between releases kept fans on the edge of their seats as they patiently waited for more, which I find riveting.

We’ve all seen artists do the same classic thing, and there’s nothing wrong with that because it works.

“Why stray from something that you clearly know works?”, feels like a logical question.

First comes the initial announcement of new content in the foreseeable future, and then the first single.

Next there may be some additional promotion followed by the full album release, and maybe even a tour.

While Mayer could’ve certainly gone by the same methods and received inherently as much success, he continues to follow his creative gene which led him to this.

With both Wave One and Wave Two now having been released, Mayer has said that next to come is the release of the rest of the full album.

As the waves come out, Mayer also released coinciding tour dates.

It almost feels like a game that way, and that keeps people intrigued.

I’m not sure this technique would’ve proven successful for a number of other artists, as it may actually lose the interest of those who would’ve rather just heard everything upon one release and be done with it.

Mayer took a risk, but I’d like to think that’s what makes great artists even greater.

He even has that nonchalant kind of attitude when interacting with fans about his music on Twitter, featuring the following responses as some of my all-time favorite:

With the impending release of the last segment of Mayer’s new album, we’re all awaiting the final step in the search he has created for his listeners.

Knowing the amplitudes of the success of his previous work, it’s definitely going to be one to look out for.

-C.M.