"Won't Go Home Without You" is a song by American band
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...
. It was released on November 19, 2007, as the third
single from their second studio album ''
It Won't Be Soon Before Long
''It Won't Be Soon Before Long'' is the second studio album by American pop rock band Maroon 5. It was released on May 16, 2007, by A&M Octone Records, as the follow-up to their debut album, '' Songs About Jane'' (2002). The name was inspired by ...
'' (2007). The guitar lines in the song are somewhat similar to
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...
single "
Every Breath You Take
"Every Breath You Take" is a song by the English rock band the Police from their album ''Synchronicity'' (1983). Written by Sting, the single was the biggest US and Canadian hit of 1983, topping the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart for ei ...
".
In 2022, ''Billboard'' ranked it as the tenth best Maroon 5 song of all time.
Critical reception
Reviews for "Won't Go Home Without You" have been generally positive, although some were mixed.
Music journalist
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
gave a positive review on the album as well as the song, saying "The devilishly memorable "Won't Go Home Without You" combines confidence with affection rather than macho."
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
called the song "
hemusical equivalent of a dog's fart at the dinner table" and gave it just one star out of a possible ten.
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...
gave the song two stars out of five, calling the song's lyrics "as cold, functional and ruthlessly effective as a state-of-the-art refrigerator".
Chart performance
"Won't Go Home Without You" peaked at number 48 in the ''Billboard''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
. As of June 2014, the song has sold 1,647,000 copies in the US.
The song became the first Maroon 5 single to fail to chart in the UK top 40, only peaking at number 44 on the
UK Singles Chart.
Music video
On August 16, 2007, Maroon 5 posted a notice on their official website asking for fans to send in homemade videos to help the band make the video for this song; however, in October 2007, another video was released in Europe and Australia. The official video was directed by
Sophie Muller
Sophie Luise Elisabeth Muller (born 31 January 1962) is an English music video director who has directed over 300 music videos. She won a Grammy Award for Annie Lennox's 1992 ''Diva'' video album, and an MTV Video Music Award for Lennox's song " ...
and premiered on ''
VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown'' on December 1, 2007.
The song's music video starts with flashbacks where
Adam Levine
Adam Noah Levine ( ; born March 18, 1979) is an American musician who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5.
Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, for ...
(Maroon 5's lead singer) and a female character (portrayed by
Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde Helen Katz (born March 22, 1988) is a Franco-American actress. Her roles have included Cynthia Sanders on the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' between 2000 and 2002, followed by Alex Rousseau in the ABC series '' Lost'' fr ...
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/ref>) appear to have an argument upon which Levine decides to leave. The video then cuts to Levine sitting in a chair thinking it over with the rest of the band performing in the background. Adam realizes that he 'will not go home without you', referring to the female he had walked out on. Levine appears to know where the woman is at the moment and decides to look for her. After having meandered through the city for a few hours - including bumping into a Chinese lion puppet - Levine eventually gets to a restaurant where he finds the woman, but to his disappointment, she is with another man.
This video features Jesse Carmichael
Jesse Royal Carmichael (born April 2, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for the pop rock band, Maroon 5. He is one of only two remaining original members of the group, along with frontman Adam Le ...
playing both piano and guitar.
Awards and nominations
Track listings
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2007 singles
Maroon 5 songs
Music videos directed by Sophie Muller
Songs written by Adam Levine
Song recordings produced by Mike Elizondo
Rock ballads
2007 songs
A&M Octone Records singles
Torch songs
2000s ballads
Songs about loneliness