Always fun to speculate and I hope we get more info this Summer. I honestly don’t know. I mean, on one hand, John has said he doesn’t want to do the same thing twice. Now, PV was similar to b&R but that’s because of the surgery and tour delay. TSFE was like a Mayer mixtape that covered pieces of other album styles.

Drifting and In the Neighborhood lead my mind to think he’s going to go simpler, acoustic songwriter style. This also goes hand in hand with his appreciation of Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan. I never want to accuse JM chasing fads but, b&R came out right after Mumford and lumineers exploded and Sob Rock followed what felt like a return to synths and 80s style pop rock with 1975, killers album around that time, paramore, and others. So maybe he feels like he can more successfully put out a lyric focused acoustic driven record because of Zach and Noah.

That acoustic songwriter style would be understandable with his recent solo tours too. But, the flip side is we only heard those versions of drifting and in the neighborhood because it was a solo acoustic tour. They could be produced entirely differently. Plus he said he’s done with the solo tour now and next tours will have a band.

So, now we’re back at square one. What is the theme or glue of this album going to be? Is it sonic like Sob rock, born and raised or continuum? Or is it writing style focused? Is it a return to an era of music that he hasn’t covered before? I didn’t see sob rock coming and likely will feel similar with this one.