New Year’s Eve means a lot of things in Las Vegas, and one of them is Maroon 5. This weekend marks the sixth-consecutive year the pop band has played a pair of shows on the Strip to usher in the new year, which means the holiday-in-Vegas tradition began shortly after NBC’s The Voice launched frontman Adam Levine’s second career as a TV personality.
That span of time has also seen Maroon 5 record a series of team-up tracks, many of which have become hits. It really all started with “Moves Like Jagger” with Christina Aguilera, and though the band has since collaborated with familiar names in country (Lady Antebellum) and pop (Gwen Stefani), hip-hop artists have been the weapon of choice most recently. Levine has sung on tracks by Kanye West, the Ying Yang Twins and 50 Cent and Eminem, and Maroon 5 has worked up memorable tunes with Wiz Khalifa (“Payphone”), Kendrick Lamar (“Don’t Wanna Know”) and Future (“Cold”).
The band might have crafted its catchiest collaboration yet for the lead single from November release Red Pill Blues—the funky and friendly “What Lovers Do,” featuring white-hot singer-songwriter SZA. It recently peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, another hit to add to the collection. Maroon 5 at Mandalay Bay Events Center, December 30 & 31.
