The Search for Everything
by John Mayer
  • Record Label: Columbia
  • Release Date: Apr 14, 2017
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
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  1. AllMusic
    Apr 14, 2017
    90
    The Search for Everything succeeds because he's not donning a new costume: instead, he's settling into a groove he can claim as his own, and it feels like he's at home.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Apr 14, 2017
    83
    The most deeply personal album Mayer has ever released. At the same time, the slickness of the music blunts some of the impact. To nearly the same degree that Mayer’s lyrics explore the limits of control, his music seeks to enforce it.
  3. Pitchfork
    Apr 19, 2017
    49
    It’s progress, probably, that Mayer keeps the condescension to a dull sneer, but this also makes everything sound that much more anodyne.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Apr 14, 2017
    25
    He’s delivered a batch of songs that feel relentlessly focus-tested in an attempt to win back his female fan base, but that have, in the process, sanded away the edges that gave him personality in the first place.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 62 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 62
  3. Negative: 7 out of 62
  1. pecethan
    Apr 16, 2017
    10
    A masterful design by one of the only musicians out of the 2000s to gain legendary status. John Mayer's music will have a fanbase long afterA masterful design by one of the only musicians out of the 2000s to gain legendary status. John Mayer's music will have a fanbase long after that of his peers has faded.… Full Review »
  2. sciencegen07
    Apr 17, 2017
    10
    How I see it, in LPs: Room for Squares was a great introduction. Heavier Things was proof John's songwriting could mature and was versatile.How I see it, in LPs: Room for Squares was a great introduction. Heavier Things was proof John's songwriting could mature and was versatile. Then, Continuum set a bar that wouldn't be reached again until this year. There were some albums between then and now (and they're very good, and it's something of an injustice to treat them like this, particularly Born and Raised.) But, here we are.

    The Search for Everything essentially goes "tit for tat" with Continuum. Emoji of a Wave is as hard to listen to as Stop This Train (meant as a deep compliment), with In the Blood in the same club. Still Feel Like Your Man and Moving on and Getting Over are as smooth-funky as Belief and Vultures. Rosie sounds eerily like Gravity and I Don't Trust Myself had a lovechild. You're Gonna Live Forever in Me sounds like Dreaming with a Broken Heart had a change of, well, heart... though Never on the Day You Leave says "Uh... nevermind."

    There's no analogue to Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (and I don't think there ever will be), but that's fine, 'cause there's no analogue to Helpless, either. The mash-up of musical and lyrical counterpoints in Helpless is a fantastic antithesis to the synchronous nature of Slow Dancing. Meaning: the lyrics in Slow Dancing confirm the story already painted by the music. Helpless, on the other hand, *sounds* defiant and confident (musically), but describes the most defeating kind of defeat: the inevitable, helpless self-defeat. Together, the lyrics and music are like a kid trying to intimidate and scare off a monster by yelling at it... but the yell is laced with fear.

    The Search and Continuum are very similar, and very different. Equal in magnitude and opposite in direction, so to speak.    … Full Review »
  3. alekblonk
    Apr 17, 2017
    8
    A truly great new John Mayer album, with a variety of sounds and musical influence's. He has proved time after time that he's capable ofA truly great new John Mayer album, with a variety of sounds and musical influence's. He has proved time after time that he's capable of making solid albums and this release shows he hasn't lost any of his capability to do so.… Full Review »
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