Easy Listening: John Mayer - No Such Thing

Acoustic pop singer John Mayer has come a long way from his breakthrough 2002 hit album Room for Squares. Since then he's arguably garnered more attention for his bedroom follies than his music. Being labeled a womanizer by the media, he's dated several Hollywood A-Listers, dumped or been dumped by all of them, and even dished out the goods on Jessica Simpson's bedroom performance in a controversial Playboy interview. He made headlines in 2012 for feeling "humiliated" by Taylor Swift who reportedly penned the scathing Dear John about their breakup. Rewind back to 2002 and women seemed to be the least of Mayer's problems. His debut single the adult contemporary piece "No Such Thing" is all about rising above the usual path of going from high school to college to pursue your dreams.

The track was co-written by Clay Cook, Zac Brown Band member and one of Mayer's college buddies in the late 90s. Mayer starts out as a young man presumably being lectured by his condescending guidance counselor about "the real world" and how he needs to "stay inside the lines," grab a few credits from college and take the "so called right track."  By the time he hits the chorus, which is a bit of a climax, Mayer wants to run through the halls of his high school and tell everyone he made it the nontraditional way. He sings, rather melodically:

I wanna run through the halls of my high school
I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above

John Mayer's the type of songwriter that can send a chill down my spine with his lyrics. His songs make me think and daydream. It definitely helps that "No Such Thing" is strikingly relatable, and I imagine more-so for a coming of age crowd.

Mayer uses his trademark breathy vocals for the track. There's no over-singing here. I can detect a little bit of blues influence in his voice. He'll embrace it full on with songs like Gravity later in his career. For new John Mayer fans looking for entry level songs, "No Such Thing" is a sure thing for your MP3 player. Feed it the dreamy record ASAP!