Today's Pick

John Mayer and Katy Perry make it clear who they love in the lovey-dovey new video for their mellow duet "Who You Love," which appears as the sixth song and the third single from Mayer's sixth studio album, "Paradise Valley." Yes, Mayer and his on-again-off-again girlfriend Perry are among the couples in love featured in their new clip trying not to get thrown from a mechanical bull which seems to be placed in the middle of the desert. This provides a more playful aspect to the video, which largely focuses on close-ups of twosome singing, snuggling, being adorable and unintentionally making single people cry.
This Folk-flavored soft ballad was written by Mayer, with Perry writing her verse. Lyrically, "Who You Love" is about accepting falling in love with someone, based around the idea that "you love who you love." Musically, it is a gentle and breezy song, drawing influence from country music. It has the feel of an old soul classic, while the lyrics discuss the joy of falling in love with someone when you least expect it. This was the first musical collaboration between the couple.
Mayer told Billboard magazine that he wanted to write a melodic and confessional song about accepting who you love. He explained on writing the song, "'Who You Love' is a sweet melody that tells the story of opening your heart up and allowing yourself to fully love the person in your life or specifically to 'love who you love, who you love.' It was a really great experience and the song is one of these like old FM '70s and '80s sort of like duets, and I listened back to it; it's, like, really convincing. And I watched it get made and I'm still kind of taken aback." There's romance here, but it's more of the greeting card variety.
"We set up the casting call for real couples," Mayer said of the Sophie Muller-directed clip that features him, Perry and real-life pairs snuggling while riding a mechanical bull and showered with flurries of confetti, the musical power couple laugh and gaze into each others' eyes. "There was nothing scripted in that video, except putting the bull in the middle of the desert." That's a metaphor about love, Perry explained, "Relationships are kind of like riding a bull. You hang on for dear life and sometimes you get a little buck here and there and sometimes you get things thrown at you but you get back on."

Holding us over until his vocal chords gets back in tip-top shape, John Mayer released his new music video for his latest ditty, "Queen of California," the second single from his fifth studio album, "Born and Raised," which marks yet another change in Mayer's musical style, incorporating musical elements of folk and Americana that take influences from Bob Dylan, Neil Young, David Crosby and Graham Nash.
The track, a mildly country vibe, is a bit folkier than his usual bluesy, jazzy style, harkening back to the AM radio sounds of the 1970s. "Queen of California" also references Joni Mitchell, is cut straight from the Laurel Canyon of the early 70s with its gentle, acoustic start, a loose, jammy veneer and honey-sweet harmonies. Describing the song as a "relieving breath of fresh air," Mayer told NPR that the tune is about "being able to have a hopeful vibe about something again.
Mayer worked with director Sam Jones in capturing a natural set, which appears to be one long continuous take in which the 34-year-old singer crooner enduring a variety of weather phenomenons and musical happenings as he makes his way from the cold northern region to greener pastures and a warmer SoCal climate, including the snow-capped Rocky Mountains and New York City's hustle and bustle. That is until he finally reunites with his band on the set of the music video for the song.
The blues rocker goes through his own westward expansion on this low-key video, which matches the laidback feel of the song, and he's never made a leisurely stroll through scenery look more poignant, let alone visually arresting. Mayer is still trying to recover from a vocal injury that has forced him to take an indefinite hiatus from live performances. According to the singer's Tumblr blog, he is going in for surgery at the end of August. He adds, "but I'm excited to get back to it next year."

John Mayer may not be able to perform his new material live, but that doesn't mean he can't pack up his stuff, drive across the Western frontier and lip-synch lyrics about being a "good man, with a good heart." And with that, the scenic "Shadow Days" music video was unveiled on Friday. The video is a road trip, with Mayer dressed up as a cowboy, making his way across the heartland of our great country to just chill out and let it all go. It's a completely uncomplicated premise.
"Shadow Days" is the lead single from Mayer's fifth studio album "Born and Raised," the first album since 2009’s "Battle Studies," which notched the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200 and earned him three Grammy nominations. The new CD is still on track for a May 22 release despite the 34-year-old's recent battle with a backlash following a controversial Playboy interview and throat surgery for a granuloma near his vocal chord. "My shadow days are over," he sings in this country-tinged song reflecting the hope that his bad times are over.
"I'm pretty emotionally burnt out at the moment, but please know how hard I tried to resolve this and how disappointed I am that I can't perform this record yet," Mayer told his fans in his blog. "I'm completely bummed, especially for all of you who started making plans to see a show. Nothing feels worse than having to break the stage down before the performance, and I mean nothing. I love this band you were going to hear, I love the guys and girls I work with, and the only thing that stops me from devolving into a puddle of tears is knowing that it's a long life, and the greatest gift in the world is being able to create music no matter what the circumstances. So these are the new circumstances, and I'll find a way to make it mean something. That's all you can ever do."
Mayer leads an unfussy life in the clip for "Shadow Days," a moody track wherein Mayer croons about being a good man who lost his way, the recovering media provocateur and hippie-cowboy heartbreaker Mayer is leaving behind the bright lights and hustle and bustle of the big city for something simpler, he drifts through his own private Idaho, Arizona, and other frontier states. As our wandering hero travels across this great land of ours in his mostly reliable Jeep Wrangler, he makes sure to visit key scenic landscapes in order to play guitar as approving eagles soar above him.

PEOPLE has the exclusive premiere of John Mayer's "Half Of My Heart" official music video, where a tux-clad Mayer sings and strums about not being able to "stop loving you with half of my heart" after apparently leaving his bride at the altar. "Half of My Heart" is third single taken from his "Battle Studies" album released in 2009 and was certified gold in the US. This song, in which Mayer confesses to being half-hearted in a relationship, is a collaboration with Country-Pop star Taylor Swift, but she does not appear in the video. Mayer seems to be back to his playboy-lover image.
"Half of My Heart" features more of a pop rock sound than Mayer's previous music. His previous albums explored blues and acoustic rock, especially in his 2006 album "Continuum." It also has a carefree, sing-along sound to it. Mayer told MTV News that the idea for the song came to Mayer in a dream. "I woke up with the song in my head called 'Half of My Heart,'" he recalled. "And the idea is that it's this real sort of updated — not that it needs to be updated — sort of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks thing."
The lyrics of the song are sung by both Mayer and Swift; Swift sings with Mayer in the chorus and in the song's bridge. The lyrics are about the duo, with half of their hearts saying they should continue to love each other, although the other half says they are not each other's true love, and cannot keep loving each other. Mayer "tweeted" about wanting to record the song with Swift in March 2009: "Waking up to this song idea that won't leave my head. 3 days straight now. That means it's good enough to finish," he wrote "It's called 'Half of My Heart' and I want to sing it with Taylor Swift. She would make a killer Stevie Nicks in contrast to my Tom Petty of a song."
In an interview shown on television called Mayer: On the Record with Fuse (which only aired on the Fuse channel), Mayer's interviewer asked why the singer chose Swift to duet with, since she was only nineteen years old, and Mayer was 32. He responded by saying that he was not putting her on the album just to sell more copies for die-hard fans of Taylor Swift that might just get the album for that song.

American blues-rock musician John Mayer unveils a second music video on his Facebook page and Vevo for his latest hit single "Heartbreak Warfare" off his 2009 adventurous fourth studio album "Battle Studies," was released and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. The song is the opening track on the album, and was released as the second single from the album. The video coverage was captured from one of his eclectic live performances during his tour, which is still underway.
The song "Heartbreak Warfare" marked some changes from the music that Mayer was known for, which was the soft blues influence in his previous albums. Songs like this song from "Battle Studies," along with "Edge of Desire" and "Half of My Heart" went more towards Mayer's more rock-oriented sound, which he showed more on "Battle Studies." About the album, Mayer said, "I approach music like a director doing a period piece. Where 'Continuum' was R&B and Soul, 'Battle Studies' was written with the timelessness of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young in mind. The melodies and message are concise and from-the-gut with the efficiency of simplicity."
As an artist and a multi-platinum singer, Mayer has been on the forefront of emerging technologies, embracing the art of blogging and tweeting before it was trendy to do so. However, Mayer has been able to make music and technology history as the first recording artist to release an augmented reality music video last October, which allowing online viewers to become active participants in the 3D experience.
The second new video is laid over a black-and-white treatment of a concert, but it's not a live version of the song and feels a bit false at times. But it's sort of a classic music video. The video for the song, about the war between men and women in affairs of the heart, takes us on the stage with Mayer. The song that many have referred to as the Jennifer Aniston breakup song is rising up the charts. About "Heartbreak Warfare" being attached by media critics to his ex Jennifer Aniston, Mayer told Playboy magazine, "I feel bad because people think "Heartbreak Warfare" is about her. I wanna go on record saying it's not. That woman would never use heartbreak warfare. That woman was the most communicative, sweetest, kindest person." This video was shot at one of the stops on his current tour, which will be running through September.

John Mayer was born in Connecticut on October 16, 1977. The "Your Body Is a Wonderland" is the 2nd single from his debut album, "Room for Squares" in 2001. This song was inspired by his ex-girlfriend, the actress/singer Jennifer Love Hewitt. John won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Your Body Is a Wonderland”in 2003. In his acceptance speech he remarked, "This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up."
The video starred the actress Holly Lynch. John also won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for "Continuum" and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change" in 2007. I like his blues-rock styles, such as "Gravity", "Say", "Free Falling", and "Daughters".