Mystery Band Purple Tears Has a ‘Well-Known’ Grammy Winner Behind It: Adam Levine?
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A mysterious electronic-alt pop group named Purple Tears—with a “well-known” artist behind it — just dropped a song under Warner Records Friday. The group released debut single “Work It Out” with a verse from Swae Lee, and boasts songwriting by Adam Levine. But is the group’s vocalist Levine himself?
The song hears the mystery vocalist singing to a past love and fighting to be forgiven over slow, electronic sounds. “I want you to stay every night and every day ’cause I need you now,” the voice croons. “But you’re already leaving.”
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It’s unclear who the artist behind the project is, though a source tells Rolling Stone that a Grammy winner is in charge. “There is a well-known, Grammy Award-winning artist behind Purple Tears,” the source said. “They have had success as part of a group and as a collaborator with other industry icons.”
The source pointed to “easter eggs hinting at their identities” in the track’s kaleidoscopic, trippy visualizer, and on the group’s social media.
Although the images in the “Work It Out” video are distorted, the video shows an image of eyes and lips of seemingly the same man. The eyes look somewhat similar to Levine’s, and the vocals, although under a voice distorter, also sound reminiscent of Levine. (The singer seems to fit the description of the source description as he’s the frontman of Maroon 5, and has won three Grammys with the group.)
Furthering the speculation around Levine, Rolling Stone confirmed that a trademark was filed for the name “Purple Tears” by Six5 Productions, a company owned by producer Jason Evigan, who co-wrote and co-produced some of Maroon 5’s hits such as “Girls Like You” with Cardi B and “What Lovers Do” with SZA.
A press release from Warner Records described Purple Tears as a “groundbreaking artist project featuring critically acclaimed industry veterans,” and credited Levine as a member of the “all-star lineup of songwriters” on the track. The visual also credited Day One Entertainment at the end of the visualizer. Its Instagram account follows Warner Music Group employees, some of whom were announced by the label as recently as this week.
“In a world suffering from online overshare, Purple Tears is doing something different and bold, allowing music, messages, and creativity to remain at the forefront of conversation,” the release read.
The band also shared a whirling statement about the debut song. “It’s a song that was always felt; but, the courage was never there to write it before,” Purple Tears said. “If it had come earlier, maybe she would still be here.”
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