Room for Squares


Room for Squares is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mayer, oringally released on June 5, 2001 and re-released on September 18, 2001 by both Aware and Columbia Records. Upon its release, it peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 and received generally positive reviews from critics. It earned Mayer a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
Room for Squares is Mayer's best-selling album to date, having sold over 4,484,000 copies in the United States as of July 2014.

Background

The album's title is a reference to Hank Mobley's No Room for Squares album. All songs from the album are written by Mayer; three songs, "No Such Thing", "Neon", and "Love Song for No One", were co-written with Clay Cook. The first two of these, along with "My Stupid Mouth" and "Back to You", originally appeared on Mayer's 1999 EP Inside Wants Out. The songs are largely based on Mayer's personal experiences.
Through constant shows, including in the Atlanta-area Eddie's Attic, Mayer's reputation began to build. In March, an acquaintance of Mayer's, a lawyer, sent an EP to Gregg Latterman at Aware Records. After including him in the Aware Festival concerts and having his songs included on Aware compilations, in early 2001, Aware released Room for Squares as an internet-only album. During that time, Aware inked a deal with Columbia Records that gave Columbia first pick in signing Aware artists, and so in September 2001, Columbia remixed and re-released Room for Squares. As part of the major label "debut", the album's artwork was updated, and the track "3x5" was added, which did not appear on the original as the recording was not yet complete at the time. The re-release included reworked studio versions of the first four songs from his indie album, Inside Wants Out. The cover art for the most recent release of Room for Squares features a periodic table design beginning from the back cover which continues to the front cover, ending at the right-side.
The album was relatively unknown at its time of release, but it became more well-known through word of mouth and John's touring, and reached number one Billboard's Heatseekers chart by March 2002. By the end of that year, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and ultimately, "Why Georgia".

Performance difficulty

"Neon" is often cited by guitar enthusiasts as an example of Mayer's virtuosity on the guitar. The acoustic version of Neon's opening riff is notorious among the guitar community for being technically difficult. This is because Mayer simultaneously plays lead, rhythm, and bassline on a single guitar at a high tempo and in a syncopated manner that combines finger-style and slapping. In addition, his use of unusual chords and unorthodox right hand technique makes the riff physically hard to play. Mayer himself credits his large hands, particularly his wide thumb, for helping him play this song.

Reception

By April 2002, Room for Squares had seen increases in eight of the previous nine weeks, earning the Billboard 200's Greatest Gainer —a 36 percent surge. The increase was attributed to combination of a March performance of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and the radio-and-retail campaign launched in more than 10 markets where Mayer was receiving airplay. It reached number seven on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog. A steady seller, the album was certified platinum despite never being a top-ten hit.
Anthony DeCurtis gave the album four out of five stars, calling it "irresistible". PopMatters gave an unfavorable review, saying "It doesn't offend, nor does it attempt to make itself too exciting for the most part." Robert Christgau said that composition lyrics like "She keeps a toothbrush at my place/As if I had the extra space" on "City Love" are an improvement over Norah Jones.
By the end of 2002, Room for Squares had spawned several radio hits, including, "No Such Thing", "Your Body Is a Wonderland", and, ultimately, "Why Georgia", which was released as a CD single six weeks before the follow-up album, Heavier Things, was released in 2003.
In 2003, Mayer won a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland". In his acceptance speech he remarked, “This is very, very fast, and I promise to catch up.” He referred to himself as being sixteen, a remark that many mistook to mean that he was only sixteen years old at the time.

Track listings

Note: On the Columbia re-release, "St. Patrick's Day" is consistently listed as track 14; track 13 is an unlisted song with a duration of 0:04, and sometimes even 0:00.

Alternative covers

The album's cover for its initially planned June 2001 release in the United States and its Japan release had alternative covers.

Personnel

All track numbers correlate with those on the Columbia release of the album.

Musicians

Weekly charts

Year-end charts