"Unkiss Me" is a song by American pop rock band Maroon 5. It is featured as the fourth track on band's fifth studio album, V (2014). Despite the song's popularity, it has never been performed live by the band.
Composition
"Unkiss Me" starts off with a trap beat, which dissipates during the chorus in favor of a synth instrumental section. The entire song is more mid-tempo, along with the next track, "Sugar".
Lyrically, "Unkiss Me" is about a failed relationship, which Levine struggles to overcome. The song features Levine using his lower register in his voice more so than in other songs.
Reception
"Unkiss Me" had a mostly positive reaction from critics, with some saying it was the best track on the album, although there were some more negative reviews. Brad Wete from Billboard nominated the song to be released as a single. It was noted as an album highlight by Jimmy Donnellin from Cultured Vultures. The song has been compared to Boys II Men.
Chart performance and streaming
Due to the success of V, "Unkiss Me" (along with many other songs) charted due to strong sales numbers. It peaked at number 56 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart, and 15 on the South Korean Gaon Chart. The song has over 66 million streams on Spotify as of November 2022.
Charts
Personnel
Credits are adapted from AllMusic.
Maroon 5
Adam Levine – lead and backing vocals, additional drums, songwriting
Jesse Carmichael – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing vocals
Mickey Madden – bass guitar
James Valentine – lead guitar, backing vocals
Matt Flynn – drums, percussion
PJ Morton – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing vocals
Additional musicians
Sam Farrar – backing vocals, programming
Ross Golan – backing vocals, songwriting
Johan Carlsson – songwriting, additional instrumentation, keyboards, mixing, production, programming, vocal production, backing vocals
Technical
this list may be incomplete list of credits
Ryan Tedder – songwriting, production, additional instrumentation, programming
John Armstrong – assistant
Astma – additional instrumentation, production, programming
Tim Blacksmith – executive production
Max Martin – executive production, vocal production
Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy – production
Tom Coyne – mastering
Danny D. – executive producer
Eric Eylands – assistant
Rachael Findlen – assistant
Serban Ghenea – mixing
Clint Gibbs – engineer
John Hanes – mixing
Seif "Mageef" Hussain – production coordination
References
2014 songs
Maroon 5 songs
Songs written by Adam Levine
Songs written by Ross Golan
Songs written by Johan Carlsson (musician)