The Maybe Man

For its title track, see Maybe Man.

The Maybe Man
Studio album by AJR
Released	November 10, 2023 (2023-11-10)
Recorded	2022–2023
Genre	Pop
Length	44:12
Label	Mercury Republic AJR
Producer	Ryan Met
AJR chronology
OK Orchestra (2021) The Maybe Man (2023) What No One's Thinking (2025)
Singles from The Maybe Man
"I Won't" Released: July 29, 2022 "The DJ Is Crying for Help" Released: November 18, 2022 "The Dumb Song" Released: April 21, 2023 "God Is Really Real" Released: July 5, 2023 "Yes I'm a Mess" Released: September 29, 2023 "Inertia" Released: May 24, 2024

The Maybe Man is the fifth studio album by the American pop trio AJR. It was released on November 10, 2023, following their previous studio album OK Orchestra (2021). It is the band's first album released as part of its deal with Mercury/Republic Records.

Promotion and release

In 2022, AJR embarked on a world tour in support of their fourth studio album OK Orchestra. On the tour, they performed their then-unreleased song "I Won't" as a surprise addition to the set, before releasing it as the lead single for their upcoming fifth studio album on July 29, 2022. ^{[1] [2]} On November 12, 2022, AJR revealed the album title's abbreviation of "TMM", fitting into the pattern "T** M**** M**". Fans immediately started posting speculative potential titles on the internet; popular theories included "The Music Men", "Ten Meter Men", and "The Manly Men". ^[3] The band released the album's second single "The DJ Is Crying for Help" on November 18. ^[4] The third single "The Dumb Song" was released on April 21, 2023. Its music video was released the same day, detailing the song's year-and-a-half-long creation process. ^[5]

The fourth single, "God Is Really Real", was surprise-released as a music video on YouTube on July 3, 2023, along with a lyric video. While the song was originally set to be dropped along with the album, it was released much earlier than originally scheduled, in order to commemorate the life of their terminally ill father Gary. He died later that day. ^{[6] [7]} The single had an official release on July 5, 2023. ^[8]

On August 27, 2023, they posted the message "Enormous news tomorrow. maybe." to their social media accounts along with a previously unveiled logo featuring the "TMM" acronym. ^[9] The album's full title and release date were announced the next day in a teaser video featuring the ending of the animated music video for the album's first track, "Maybe Man". The band revealed the track list and album cover on September 11. ^[9]

The fifth and final single, "Yes I'm a Mess", was released on September 29, 2023. ^[10] A comedic music video, shot in Times Square, was released on October 25. ^[11] On October 11, AJR announced that The Maybe Man would be delayed exactly one week from its original release date, due to "exciting opportunities" relating to the album release. ^[12] The album was then released on November 10 alongside a music video for "Maybe Man". ^{[13] [14]} On November 29, a music video for "Inertia", the 5th song on the album, was released. ^[15] On January 23, 2024, a music video for "Touchy Feely Fool", the 2nd song on the album, was released. ^[16]

Songs and track listing

"Maybe Man", the album's first track, described by the band as a "table of contents" for the remaining songs, is a melancholy song with lyrics that interpolates with other songs, such as the line "I wish I was big, as big as my house..." interpolates with "Don't you like it bigger, better but you do what'cha can?" from "Inertia". "Touchy Feely Fool" is an upbeat yet reflective track that touches on the awkwardness and vulnerability of emotions, describing a rough breakup.

The album was supposed to have a thirteenth track, but it didn't make the album due to the song supposedly not fitting in with the rest of the album's theme. The brothers deemed the track too upbeat and positive for it to fit in perfectly with the rest of the songs. The track was originally supposed to be officially released with a deluxe version of The Maybe Man, however with the unveiling of the What No One's Thinking EP (2025), the band has confirmed that the album's planned deluxe edition has since been scrapped and the follow-up EP's track "The Big Goodbye" was originally intended as the thirteenth track. ^[17]

The Maybe Man track list

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Maybe Man"	3:40
2.	"Touchy Feely Fool"	3:35
3.	"Yes I'm a Mess"	2:44
4.	"The Dumb Song"	3:45
5.	"Inertia"	3:40
6.	"Turning Out Pt. iii"	3:50
7.	"Hole in the Bottom of My Brain"	3:07
8.	"The DJ Is Crying for Help"	3:39
9.	"I Won't"	2:48
10.	"Steve's Going to London"	4:47
11.	"God Is Really Real"	2:59
12.	"2085"	5:31
Total length:		44:12

The Maybe Man Tour

The Maybe Man Tour

Tour by AJR
Location	United States
Associated album	The Maybe Man
Start date	April 3, 2024 [a]
End date	August 20, 2024
Legs	2
No. of shows	51
Supporting acts	Mxmtoon Dean Lewis Almost Monday Andrew Hoyt
Attendance	450,000+ [18]
Box office	$33.6 million [19]
AJR concert chronology
OK Orchestra Tour (2021–2022) The Maybe Man Tour (2024) Somewhere in the Sky Tour (2025)

On November 9, 2023, AJR announced their first arena tour to promote the album, ^[20] most notably including two stops at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City. ^[21] Tickets for the tour went on sale on November 17. ^[22] A second show for MSG was announced on November 14 due to the first show being sold out on the first day of presale. ^[23]

On February 13, 2024, the band announced that the supporting acts for the tour would be Mxmtoon, Dean Lewis and Almost Monday. ^[24] On April 1, AJR canceled the tour's first show due to the Norfolk Scope venue being too small to accommodate the show, ^[25] announcing on April 11 that it was rescheduled to June 23. ^[26]

Due to high demand, Idaho Central Arena announced on their Instagram account on April 2 that the Boise show would take place at ExtraMile Arena. The previously purchased tickets for Idaho Central Arena were shifted towards the newer venue, ensuring that the tickets were still valid. ^[27]

On July 8, the concert scheduled to take place at Toyota Center the next day was canceled due to the safety concerns surrounding Hurricane Beryl. ^[28]

On August 8, Adam Met announced that he would not be performing with the band for the Asia shows to attend the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. ^[29]

As of August 2024, the tour has reportedly sold over 500,000 tickets.^{[ citation needed ]}

Tour dates

The Maybe Man Tour dates
Date (2024)	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue	Opening act(s)
North America
April 2	Norfolk	United States	Norfolk Scope	Rescheduled [b]
April 3	Philadelphia		Wells Fargo Center	12,500/13,000	TBD	Dean Lewis
April 4	Boston		TD Garden	14,000/15,000	TBD
April 6	Hartford		XL Center	10,000/13,282	TBD
April 7	Baltimore		CFG Bank Arena	TBD	TBD
April 9	Raleigh		PNC Arena	TBD	TBD
April 10	Charlotte		Spectrum Center	9,000/13,376	TBD
April 12	Indianapolis		Gainbridge Fieldhouse	~11,000/12,000 [30]	TBD
April 13	Louisville		KFC Yum! Center	TBD	TBD
April 14	Grand Rapids		Van Andel Arena	10,000/10,000	TBD
April 16	Des Moines		Wells Fargo Arena	4,500/6,000	TBD	Andrew Hoyt [c]
April 17	St. Paul		Xcel Energy Center	12,000/13000 [31]	TBD	Dean Lewis
April 19	Kansas City		T-Mobile Center	TBD	TBD
April 23	Boise		ExtraMile Arena	5,000/6,795	TBD
April 24	Portland		Moda Center	10,000/15,000	TBD
April 26	Seattle		Climate Pledge Arena	13,000+ [32]	TBD
April 29	San Francisco		Chase Center	11,000 / 11,000 [33]	TBD
May 1	San Diego		Pechanga Arena	7,000/8,900	TBD
May 4	Oklahoma City		Paycom Center	8,100 / 16,591 [34]	TBD
May 7	Austin		Moody Center	9,000/10,000	TBD
May 9	Tampa		Amalie Arena	TBD	TBD
May 10	Orlando		Kia Center	TBD	TBD
May 12	Jacksonville		VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena	6,000/8,000	TBD
May 14	Hollywood		Hard Rock Live	4,000/7,000	TBD
June 23	Norfolk		Norfolk Scope	7,000/8,000	TBD	Almost Monday
June 25	Pittsburgh		PPG Paints Arena	~11,000/13,380 [35]	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
June 27	Cleveland		Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse	~10,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
June 28	Columbus		Nationwide Arena	TBD	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
June 29	Chicago		Allstate Arena	11,000/12,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
June 30	Detroit		Little Caesars Arena	13,000/15,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 3	Chicago		Allstate Arena	11,000/12,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 4 [d]	Milwaukee		American Family Insurance Amphitheater	12,500/23,037	TBD	mxmtoon and Carly Rae Jepsen
July 6	St. Louis		Enterprise Center	11,000+/12,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 9	Houston		Toyota Center	Cancelled	Cancelled	Cancelled [36]
July 10	Fort Worth		Dickies Arena	11,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 12	Phoenix		Footprint Center	11,000/12,565	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 14	Los Angeles		Kia Forum	12,000/17,500	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 16	Salt Lake City		Delta Center	11,500/12,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 17	Salt Lake City		Delta Center	11,500/12,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 18	Denver		Ball Arena	11,500/13,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 20	Denver		Ball Arena	11,500/13,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 21	Omaha		CHI Health Center Omaha	10,000+/13,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 23	Cincinnati		Heritage Bank Center	TBD	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 25	Philadelphia		Wells Fargo Center	12,500/13,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 26	New York City		Madison Square Garden	11,500	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 27	New York City		Madison Square Garden	11,500	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 30	Atlanta		State Farm Arena	12,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
July 31	Nashville		Bridgestone Arena	TBD	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
August 2	Washington, D.C.		Capital One Arena	TBD	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
August 3	Boston		TD Garden	14,000/15,000	TBD	mxmtoon and Almost Monday
Asia
August 20	Seoul	South Korea	Jamsil Arena	8,000 / 8,000	TBD	None

Festivals

Festival Shows
Date (2024 - 2025)	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue	Opening Act of performance
Asia
August 17 [e] [37]	Osaka	Japan	Osaka Sonic Stage	TBD		None
August 18 [e] [38]	Chiba	Japan	Tokyo Sonic Stage

Set list

1. "Maybe Man"
2. "Sober Up"
3. "Yes I'm a Mess"
4. "I Won't" / "Birthday Party"
5. "The DJ Is Crying For Help"
6. "God Is Really Real"
7. "The Good Part"
8. "Bang!"
9. "Inertia"
10. "Touchy Feely Fool"
11. "Karma"
12. "Turning Out" / "Turning Out Pt. ii" / "Turning Out Pt. iii"
13. "World's Smallest Violin"
14. "Steve's Going To London"
15. "Burn The House Down"
16. How We Made / "Way Less Sad"
17. "Don't Throw Out My Legos" (The Dumb Song for certain shows in the second leg and venues where they played twice)
18. "100 Bad Days"

Encore

1. "Weak" / "2085"

Alterations

• Due to Adam not being present at the Asia shows and other reasons, the beginning of "The Maybe Man", "God Is Really Real", and "2085" were cut. "Bang!", with the How We Made intro, was moved to prior "Weak", which had a marching band outro. and "The Dumb Song" was played.
• At the Japan shows, covers of "All Star" and "I've Got No Strings" were played.

Notes

1. The original date was April 2, 2024, but was cancelled due to the scope of the show being too much for the venue
2. Rescheduled to June 23, 2024
3. Hoyt replaced Dean Lewis, who did not perform after suffering a concussion.
4. Part of Summerfest
5. Part of Summer Sonic Festival

Reception

The Maybe Man ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[39]
The Orcale	[40]

Much like the band's previous albums, The Maybe Man was released to positive reviews. Writing for AllMusic , Matt Collar praised the album, writing, "With The Maybe Man, AJR continue to turn their personal pain and anxieties into universally relatable pop anthems." ^[41] Exclaim! listed the album cover as 17th worst of the year, writing: "You've entered a wormhole to 2008 — your only tools for survival are a moustache finger tattoo, a copy of Amélie, a voucher for free puppetry lessons and this album cover. Good luck." ^[42]

Personnel

AJR

• Adam Met – bass guitar, vocals
• Jack Met – lead vocals (1–5, 7–12), guitar (tracks 2, 7, 10–12), drums (4 & 5), vocals
• Ryan Met – lead vocals (6), vocals, production, programming

Technical

• Dale Becker – mastering engineer (1–3, 5–7, 9–12)
• Chris Gehringer – mastering engineer (4, 8)
• Joe Zook – mixing engineer (1–3, 5–10, 12)
• Rob Piccione – engineer (1, 3, 5, 7, 9–12)
• Katie Harvey – assistant mastering engineer (1–3, 5–7, 9–12)
• Noah McCorkle – assistant mastering engineer (1–3, 5–7, 9–12)
• Brandon Hernandez – assistant mastering engineer (1, 2, 5–7, 9–12)

Additional musicians

• Rob Piccione – additional vocals (1), backing vocals (3, 8, 10), vocals (4, 5, 7, 9, 12), guitar (6)
• Ruth Kornblatt-Stier – cello (1, 5–7, 10–12)
• Emelia Suljic – violin (1, 5–7, 10–12)
• Arnetta Johnson – trumpet (1, 4, 10, 12)
• Chris Berry – vocals (1), drums (4), backing vocals (8), cello (12)
• Dane Hagen – vocals (1, 5), guitar (5), backing vocals (8)
• Ezra Donellan – vocals (1, 5), backing vocals (3, 8, 10)
• Austin Roa – vocals (1, 5, 12)
• Josh Plotner – woodwinds (1)
• The Beu Sisters – backing vocals (3)
• Kent Lucas – backing vocals (3), vocals (7)
• Ryan Chernin – backing vocals (3, 10)
• Chloe Brettholtz – additional vocals (4)
• Andrew Sobelsohn – guitar, vocals (4); backing vocals (8)
• Martin Lieberman – vocals (4), backing vocals (8)
• Cat Capps – vocals (4), additional vocals (5), backing vocals (8)
• Alba Avoricani – vocals (4), backing vocals (8)
• Honore Balan – vocals (4)
• Nell Balan – vocals (4)
• Ariel Gendler – vocals (5), backing vocals (8)
• Jabari Golding – vocals (5, 12)
• Zachary Murphy – vocals (7, 9)
• Benjamin Hostetler – vocals (7, 9)
• Eugene Mahlstadt – vocals (7)
• Katrina Udle – vocals (7)
• Natasha Bermudez – vocals (7)
• Adam Tomlinson – backing vocals, vocals (10)
• Amanda Wierbowski – backing vocals (10)
• Eric Holloway – vocals (10)
• Naia Lika – additional vocals (12)
• Daniel Cruz – vocals (12)
• Robert Hanley – vocals (12)
• Kevin Grammer – vocals (12)
• Jiliane Russo – vocals (12)
• Sarah Piccione – vocals (12)
• Kevin Urban – Intro Announcer (12)

Charts

Chart performance for The Maybe Man

Chart (2023)	Peak position
Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA) [43]	2
UK Album Downloads (OCC) [44]	41
US Billboard 200 [45]	28
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [46]	9
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) [47]	4
US Indie Store Album Sales (Billboard) [48]	8
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard) [49]	9

References

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