KEY POINTS:
It's about time we had another Robyn Reynolds. Considering US Grammy-winners Maroon 5 are fans of New Zealand, and frontman Adam Levine is somewhat of a player, it's tempting to get excited about their naughty new song, Kiwi.
"Sweeeet Kiwi, your juices dripping down my chin," he sings over funk guitars.
Obviously, it's about kiwifruit. Not plums. "It is not," says Levine, his voice higher than expected on the phone. "And it is also not about a New Zealander."
It's about a bird, then.
"Well," says Levine cheekily. "It has to be about a bird, right?"
So what does Natasha think? (Natasha being Kiwi pop singer Natasha Bedingfield, with whom Levine was romantically linked last year.) "Aah, which one?"
It's a fitting answer. Since Maroon 5's explosion on to the music scene in 2002 with debut album Songs For Jane (which has sold 9 million albums), Levine has become the white version of Nelly, a Lothario linked to the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Kirsten Dunst and Jessica Simpson. Whereas most stars skirt around issues relating to their private life, Levine portrays himself as a bit of a Bond. If Jane was a break-up album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, the band's second, is a hooking-up album.
Levine even goes as far to insist that the new bedroom songs aren't fantasies. When he's not instructing his Kiwi to "spread your arms and legs across the bed", he's trying to "memorise the way it felt between your thighs" in first single Makes Me Wonder, or making his intentions known on Won't Go Home Without You.
Jane was, hypothetically, about one chick. This album is about "several people". His love life is easier for it, he says, "because there's no ambiguity about anything."
Whether that makes him a male slut or a savvy businessman is a moot point - it's going to sell by the truckload.
"I enjoy sex like everybody else does; I'm just being honest about it," says Levine. "There's a difference between a tacky way to try and sell your sexuality and then there's people out there that actually do genuinely feel the way they do. And I don't feel the need to hide sexual feelings I have. So it's not a marketing tool. Although it definitely doesn't hurt."
Sex has always worked for Maroon 5. Who can forget their music video for She Will Be Loved where hot models acted out a romantic, Prince-like scenario? The album had plenty of catchy hits - Harder to Breathe, This Love and Sunday Morning - but it was Levine's image that helped drive home the mega-sales. The rub has been that his confidence borders on cocky.
"I think maybe that's the case but there does have to be a certain level of vulnerability as well. So I think that it's kind of a combination of both. But you know I've always been pretty open with things like that."
He says he's "more dorky and boring than people think". He plays video games. On tour, he focuses on his performance - the vocal kind - and keeping fit. He wrote Not Falling Apart about "being unwanted". He says he's a romantic. "I've always had that, ever since I was a kid; that wonderment about the world."
And although he is good-humoured and chatty about his fondness for the opposite sex, he refuses to name his conquests.
"You can't really be a self-proclaimed playboy, can you?"
The new album comes nearly six years since the first. This is a long time in pop music, enough to bed an entire rehab centre of young actresses.
Levine knew things were really happening when they were invited to do Saturday Night Live. In 2005 they won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Since then Maroon 5 have toured constantly, making the most of their success.
"We had to keep working and although we might have creatively moved past it we definitely felt the need to continue to tour and play our music for people and spread the word even more. We couldn't have really stopped; we wanted to take it as far as we could.
"I don't think we expected it to be as huge as it became. We knew we had good music and we were confident about it. But I don't think anyone could have expected this to happen. This is an insane and unprecedented amount of success."
Backing up the sexy new direction of the album is the band's bigger, beefier approach, much of it thanks to producer Eric Valentine, who is known for his work with Queens of the Stone Age.
Musically, there are a few more references to Levine's 80s heroes, including Prince, Sting and Michael Jackson.
The album also features the original song made famous by Kanye West when he dueted with Levine on Heard 'Em Say.
The prospect of reaching the same level of success with their second album would be enough to send most musicians into a mild panic. But Levine says it was the most fun he's had in his life.
"I was so excited people were actually going to hear it. We weren't going to have a deadline but we wanted to make sure it was out as fast as possible. I think it's more fully realised and a more exciting, more eclectic and diverse record. I think it's a better listen, I think there's more depth to the songs. I just think it's better, better, better."
Lowdown
Who: Maroon 5
Line-up: Adam Levine (vocals, guitar), James Valentine (guitar, backing vocals), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards, backing vocals), Mickey Madden (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Flynn (drums).
Albums: Songs For Jane (2002), It Won't Be Long Before Soon (2007)
