Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” turned into a smash hit for Adam Levine, though behind the scenes, things weren’t as smooth.

Despite how things may look, Adam Levine hasn’t always had the easiest career. There have been many hurdles he’s had to clear as the frontman of Maroon 5 and former coach on The Voice. For one, Adam may or may not have been fired from the hit singing competition show. He also got into a bit of trouble after reacting to a woman grabbing him on stage as well as forgetting the lyrics to the song that made him and his L.A.-based band famous in the first place.

But even with some controversies and troubles, Adam has mostly come out on top. His immense talent has been praised by everyone from record labels to Howard Stern. As has his ability to find a hit song. But the truth about one of his band’s hits, “Girls Like You”, is that it almost wasn’t even made…

“Girls Like You” Was Added To Maroon 5’s Album Less Than 24 Hours Before It Was Due

While “Girls Like You” is broadly seen as a single, it was actually part of the band’s sixth studio album, “Red Pill Blues” which was released in 2017. The chart-topper was actually an eleventh-hour addition to the album. One of the songwriters on the Maroon 5 album, Starrah (AKA Brittany Talia Hazzard) was spending time with some thoughts about her feelings for a girl and decided to record her instant genius. This was despite the fact that all of the songs for the “Red Pill Blues” had already been written, recorded, and finished for the final album.

According to Maroon 5’s manager, Adam Harrison, in an interview with Variety, the album was due for submission on a Sunday and they got the call from Starrah’s manager on Saturday that the writer had written and recorded one more song. Fortunately, it didn’t take her that long to record what she had put together after being inspired by her real-life feelings for someone.

“I thought it was a hit from the first time I heard Starrah’s demo,” J Kash, Maroon 5’s executive producer, said to Variety. But even still, J Kash knew that they had to meet their deadline and get Adam Levine and the band to record the work themselves within 24 hours. Even with the time crunch, Adam insisted on singing the song about a thousand times, according to him.

“Adam is a perfectionist, so he probably didn’t need to sing the song as many times as he did. When Adam finds the sweet spot in his vocals the whole room fills up with rainbows and butterflies and compromise,” J Kash explained.

Why Adam Levine Wanted Cardi B For “Girls Like You”

Adam Levine was thankful that they were able to finish the song within 24 hours, meeting their album submission deadline. But after he recorded the song, he thought about how to further elevate it into a massive hit. This is what led him to think of including Cardi B.

“I was thinking about whether the song needs a feature, or do we want it to stand alone?” Adam Levine recalled. “A feature collaboration is a matter of what feels right. It’s anyone who can elevate the song. Cardi B was perfect. She’s out there speaking her mind.”

With the help of Shawn Holiday, the head of Urban, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Cardi B was brought on and absolutely nailed “Girls Like You”.

“The song was a smash with or without a feature, but Cardi B was just coming on the scene, and while she was having big urban hits, they weren’t really crossing over to pop culture. She was basically a new artist. So by putting her on a song by an established group like Maroon, we knew it could help also take her around the world. As her publisher, I wanted that look for her as well,” Shawn explained. “The song came out in the midst of the #MeToo movement, which is why I wanted a female on it. With Cardi, you felt the message of the song. And she gave it that raw, gritty, New York style.”

Of course, Cardi was far from the only female added to the song. For the song’s beloved music video, everyone from Sarah Silverman, Rita Ora, Millie Bobby Brown, to Ellen DeGeneres, was asked to take part. Coordinating the 25 different women was a nightmare for the shoot, but it ultimately paid off. The song was number 1 in America and the music video currently sits at around 3.2 billion (yes, with a ‘B’) views on Youtube.

While Adam seems eternally grateful for the hit, the writer of the song, Starrah, sees the success of “Girls Like You” a little more esoterically:

“Watching it go from being a thought in our minds to the No. 1 song in the country just shows you the power of manifestation and the law of attraction.”