What does Maps mean?

Maroon 5: Maps Meaning

Album cover for Maps album cover

Song Released: 2014


Get "Maps" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Maps Lyrics

I miss the taste of a sweeter life
I miss the conversation
I’m searching for a song tonight
I’m changing all of the stations

I like to think that we had it all
We drew a map to a better place
But on that road I took a fall
Oh baby why...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    Mirtix
    click a star to vote
    Jun 27th 2018 !⃝

    If we’re talking about the lyrics itself here, most common interpretation will be about how Adam still cared so much about his lover even during her worst, but when it’s Adam’s turn to suffer, she was never there for him.
    Now if we’re relating this to the music video, what he meant when he said

    But I wonder where were you
    When I was at my worst

    He was talking about his worst moment where his girlfriend was dying and he knew he couldn’t live without her. And the fact that she later then died shows the part that she wasn’t there for him at his worst. And for the part where he said

    We drew a map to a better place
    But on that road I took a fall
    Oh baby, why did you run away

    It shows that they actually planned a bright future together however, during the way of reaching that future, he screwed up by getting too drunk and nearly kissing another girl at the party. And also instead of staying and listening to his reasoning, she left the party and basically wasn’t there for him when he took the “fall”.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 1st 2014 !⃝

    Based on the video, the bf was always there for his gf. They attended a party and an event happened. He tried to talk and she left abruptly. The gf was hurt and she had an accident. He followed her and found her not breathing on the hospital's bed. She haunts him at night and he kept thinking why she left without listening to him. He can't go on living without her. He wants to follow the map that will lead to her. He misses her and loves her dearly. He wants to end his life so that he can be with her.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 26th 2015 !⃝

    Ok. I'm pretty sure you're all wrong. And now I shall explain why using the power of SCIENCE! To fully understand my explanation, we must forget about the video. The video was just some drugs and violence because that's what people want to see (well...sick people with no education). Anywho. Let's start from the beginning. Adam (or whoever this is about) is clearly upset about losing his woman. But there is an important verse that will make sense in a second; "on this road I took a fall". This means that on their path of life he fell. In other words he got injured. Either mentally or physically, somehow Adam was hurt...in some way...don't argue with this logic. Anyway, the song points out that Adam "was there for her in her darkest times." Using logic this PROBABLY means that the woman took a fall sometime in her life. As we said before, she was hurt somehow. That's a different story, though. The song later goes on to say "but I wonder where were you, when I was at my worst, down on my knees." Ok, let's stop right there. Right now, all we know is that Adam is injured. When he said "down on my knees" this means he's still on the ground on this metaphorical road and struggling to get to his feet. Now, the woman was at this point before, and Adam then helped her up. Adam is at his WORST right now. This means that HE is probably in the hospital, not the woman. He is hurt, and losing everything. The only thing keeping him alive is the woman. The woman then decided she can't handle Adam's "stumble", if you will, and divorces him. Adam "can't get over her." The rest is pretty much self-explanatory. My work here is done. THANK YOU!

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 6th 2023 !⃝

    Okay, please know that I've never watched the actual video: the way I had always interpreted it was that the singer and the girl were best friends. Then when she was going through a rough patch, he was there for her. However, when he was in difficult times, she abandoned him, and she's the one he needs, so he's trying to find her again. Like I said earlier, this was how I've always seen it.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 25th 2021 !⃝

    I might suggest this meaning from my point of view. This is how my understanding is towards the lyrics. Very simple and short one…

    When in the part “I was there for you in your darkest time, I was there for you in your darkest night” was something Adam want her to know that he’s been there always and along the way in her fall time. Thus, when coming to this “But I wonder where were you, when I was at my worst, down on my knees.” is where Adam questioned her whereabout when he needed her the most in his fall time. Because she promised him to be there as claimed in the verse “said you had my back so I wonder where were you?”.

    However, in this verse; “all the road you took came back to me” is where he claimed her past worst time make a way to him and now he is the one falling in the same ‘problems’ or ‘worst moment’ like she’s been before… so this time Adam need her to be around but realised that she’s not there to be with him… (as if she have left him behind)

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 14th 2021 !⃝

    Here are my predictions. In the video, they are speaking metaphorically, and not in reality. So in the video where the woman was injured by the incident, they don't mean it as physically, but as mentally, and Adam rushed to be beside her and help her. As it states here: I was there for you in your darkest times
    I was there for you in your darkest night. But when Adam was injured mentally, she wasn't by his side. Instead, she would try to find a way out of all the mess. As it states here: But I wonder, where were you?
    When I was at my worst down on my knees
    And you said you had my back. As she tries to find a way out, she realizes the only way out is by breaking up, so she does it, And while trying to find another guy, no one was as good as Adam was, and the only way into getting the relationship that she wants is by Adam. As it states here: When all the roads you took came back to me. In the next line, when Adam sings "So I'm following the map that leads to you". This means he is giving her a second chance because he misses her. As it's stated here: I miss the taste of a sweeter life
    I miss the conversation. In this part of the song: I like to think that we had it all
    We drew a map to a better place
    But on that road, I took a fall
    Oh baby, why did you run away? this means they planned their future and everything was going great, until Adam fell, by falling he means falling mentally injured.




  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 20th 2018 !⃝

    for me... Maps means PLANS
    THEIR PLANS IN LIFE
    "We drew a map to a better place"
    better place means better future, but then going along with their lives, Adam is in his downfall.... problems.. conflicts...
    the girl might be too stressed out to handle and misleadingly decided to leave him. Rest of the lyrics can be easily understand.
    but with the 2nd verse is something dealing with extreme depression and by there we could fully understand the chorus...
    "So Im following the map that leads to you"
    At this point, for me, Adam decides to end his life for a reason that he's hurt... that the girl left him especially in his downfall and the reason for the girl to realize that Adam loved her so much but the girl might be with someone and Adam couldnt do anything about it... and that is the worst part.. the part where...NOTHING YOU CAN DO but to painfully accept it...

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 31st 2018 !⃝

    IMHO, this song is about a strong relationship (love/friendship), not necessarily a boy with a girl, Adam could (and probably is) interpreting a character and there is no hint about her or him.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 16th 2017 !⃝

    I think its about a girlfriend that left him abruptly. He doesn't understand why. He desperately needs to know why and what happened to her. They both messed things up but he had to deal with things on his own after she left him.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 14th 2017 !⃝

    Never mind the music video. I think it's about a girl who left him. He was there for her through one of the toughest times she's had to face. He takes an all time low and she's not there for him. She ran away. He misses her and he thought things were better now between them. There's nothing he can do. He's following the map back to her. Maybe she left clues, or he knows where she goes. He's asking, "Oh baby why did you run away?" I think he's following the map that leads to her because he really wants to know if they are really done with each other, or he refuses to let her go.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 3rd 2016 !⃝

    Adam misses his gf. He was always there for her and he was so enamored with her. He took a fall which means he went through great hardship for her. But she did him dirty somehow and she never loved him how he loved her. Still, Adam keeps following the map that leads to her because it's the only map he has , as he's been with her so long. He knows it's wrong and that he can do better than her, but he's still deeply attracted to her.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 21st 2015 !⃝

    It is a good song but it is all given away or in my opinion when he says "we drew a map to a better place but I took a fall in that road and baby why did you run away" This is the music video because he is seen with another girl being the fall and her getting killed being why did you run away now as he is talking about his worst night now this could mean a drug overdose as he was on his knees and this is no injury to me and so this could mean that after she got killed this guy or Adam took drugs and now because he has nothing the fact that he is now addicted he is on his knees and maybe when we get to the chorus he might have been beaten up by the dealer and now he is in the hospital and now he is trying to follow the map( which is in is head) to her. So maybe what the video was, was a dream that Adam had about where she got killed and that is why he followed the map to her but to only see that she was dead because of him. Also then it would make sense how he can be haunted by her because he is now also in a hospital and that is also the last place he saw her hence that would make sense and that is my theory.

  13. tskullz
    click a star to vote
    Jun 10th 2015 !⃝

    It's a story about a boy and a girl not communicating at all to make their relationship work. The map shows the way, at least for the guy, but GF is not that interested in a serious relationship. GF doesn't have a clue. Unfortunately, Boy makes a huge mistake in the midst of his depression (getting close with another girl at the party), and GF, again, being clueless, overreacts, runs away, invites the worst of all possible outcomes(getting killed by a car). The sad irony in this is the Boy loses too.

  14. ilovewriting
    click a star to vote
    Mar 16th 2015 !⃝

    According to me, I would say this song is from the boys point of view. After everything happens (girls death) he starts to feel the pain, he starts to get hurt, and thats when he is at his worst time. He was always there for her when there was anything, she just never lost him, so she didnt feel this pain. The boy was there for all her hardest times, but now when he had to go through her death, she wasnt there cause she was the one dying. He misses all the conversations and the songs they would play together. He maybe thought they would last forever. And then he says he took a fall which meant they were supposed to go to heaven together. I personally like this song because it makes me realize that you shouldnt make so many people important in your life cause they wont be there for you when youre always there for them. I love this song.

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 21st 2015 !⃝

    The song "Maps" is talking about how Adam Levine has always been there for this one girl in his life however, the girl has never been there for him when he really needed her. The lyric meaning "So I'm following the map that leads to you" is another way of Adam saying, "I'm coming to see why you never were there for me even when I was always there for you".

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 27th 2015 !⃝

    The song/video is like the unfolding of a map; how sometimes you have to start at the end point and work backwards to figure out the entire path.

    The first lyrics depict how much he misses her and his desperate futile search for a way back to her. He is in love with his beautiful girlfriend, but in a moment of drunken weakness he kisses another woman. His girlfriend sees him kiss the other woman and storms out instead of staying to help him when he was "at his worst" and "down on his knees." There's an innuendo of alcohol and drug abuse in the video. His fed-up girlfriend is then killed in an accident, but instead of blaming himself he decides to blame her for walking out on him. The repetition of the theme parallels the singers desperate spiral in a cycle of despair, "following, following, following" to his own doom.

  17. anonymous
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    Jan 18th 2015 !⃝

    The song is actually happening after the death of the GF.
    Being drunk and not getting over the accident adam mourns his GF death by remembering the best they had together which he can't get now.
    he then goes and blame her (he actually blames himself) wondering where is she when he's low only to remember that she's dead..and so, helplessly, he's following the way to the grave just to be with her.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 2nd 2014 !⃝

    I think the video and the song depict different situations. firstly, even i thought the same about the song and the video...but personally i have something going on by which i can relate to the song.
    Its just the word to word meaning..nothing hidden...like love songs. when we're not in love, and never been in we need to think all way to know it..but once you are everything fits perfectly.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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