my album is dropping

John Mayer Embraces His ’80s-Dad Aesthetic With New Album Sob Rock

Photo: Columbia Records

If Full Moon Fever, literally any Michael McDonald stock photo, a mid-century-modern David Hockey painting, and Miami Vice had a visual baby, it might be the cover for John Mayer’s new album, Sob Rock, which he announced today on social media. Welcome back, non-Deadhead Mayer! Sob Rock serves as the musician’s eighth studio album, with a scheduled release date of July 16. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mayer, who has been teasing some of the album’s songs on TikTok, said that Sob Rock is a record “made to bring comfort” to listeners with its soft-rock vibes, and it most likely wouldn’t have been created if it weren’t for the coronavirus pandemic. “I asked myself, ‘What music makes me feel like everything’s going to be okay?’” he told the Journal. “And it’s the music I listened to growing up in the ’80s. There’s a security-blanket aspect about that sound that reminds me of a safer time.” Next thing you know, he’ll be instructing us to listen and sob to it on a yacht.

John Mayer Embraces ’80s-Dad Era With New Album Sob Rock