вЂPayphoneвЂ™ was a fantastic launch pad for Overexposed, which hit stores on 20 June 2012, just as вЂOne More NightвЂ™ started to do serious business as the setвЂ™s second single. By yearвЂ™s end it would have sold more than nine million copies worldwide, and the songвЂ™s standout, big-budget, high-drama promo clip is widely regarded as one of the best from an already very strong back catalogue. вЂPayphoneвЂ™ raced up the international charts, hitting No.2 in the US and reaching the top spot in the UK. It was a smoother progression of the bandвЂ™s funk-infused sound, with its hook-laden melody bathed in a commercial sheen that exploded across pop radio. April saw the release of вЂPayphoneвЂ™, a collaboration with rapper Wiz Khalifa, as the first single.

But if the intention was to build the wait into a prolonged tease, the delay wasnвЂ™t all that tortuous. With sessions for Overexposed starting in Los Angeles in the spring of 2012, it wasnвЂ™t long before the world was being teased with clips of the band working in the studio. This time, it seemed that Maroon 5 wanted to fully embrace the more contemporary dance and pop influences that had frequently edged their way into the groupвЂ™s songs.

Max Martin, famous for his work with Britney Spears, was drafted in to contribute to the new work, while Blanco was also called back, along with Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, to amplify the new albumвЂ™s hit potential. The decision to work with songwriters Benny Blanco and Shellback on вЂMoves Like JaggerвЂ™, and that songвЂ™s huge success seemed to suggest that complementing the bandвЂ™s raw material with outside collaborators was a strategy that could pay major dividends.

Maroon 5 overexposed postcards