Adam Levine thinks Maroon 5 are stronger than ever.
The 35-year-old singer admitted the band have had trouble defining their sound in the past but have grown closer again as a group after realising their love of pop music.
He told The Sun newspaper: "Maroon 5 are a lot stronger than we have been in the past.
"We know what we are good at and that’s pop music. There isn’t one member of Maroon 5 that doesn’t love pop music.
"We are comfortable with who we are and know what we are good at.
"When people say they hate pop music and cite bands of the Sixties and Seventies as their inspiration, well The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin were all pop stars as their music was popular. They just wore different clothes than we do today.
"So Maroon 5 embrace that and are successful and we don’t think it’s uncool, we just go for it."
However, the ‘Harder to Breathe’ hitmakers – who released their fifth studio album ‘V’ earlier this month – insist the record is a nod to the "darker side of pop" and a stark contrast to their "sweet sugary" fourth offering ‘Overexposed’.
Adam said: "I would say V is on the darker side of pop.
"It’s not as sugary as the last album, which was very deliberately sweet pop and fun.
"This one is not as carefree and has an edge that we’d lost on the way."
He added: "It is hard to survive as a band in the culture for that many years and not try different things."
The Grammy Award-winner – who appears as a coach on the US version of ‘The Voice’ with country singer Blake Shelton and new judges Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani – also admitted he worried about the effect his role on the reality TV singing competition would have on his credibility as an artist and described the decision to star on the show in 2011 as a "huge risk".
He explained: "I have been very fortunate to be able to do this show as well as my music.
"It was a huge risk when I first started and I didn’t expect the show to give me credibility.
"In fact, my biggest concern was that it would take any I had away. But it was never premeditated."
Maroon 5 are stronger than ever
