The clean version censors Wiz Khalifa's cursing as well. Because this is their second song with profanity, 'Shit' and 'fucking' are intact, but have been replaced with 'it' and 'stupid' in the song's clean version. On the chorus, he sings: 'IРІР‚в„ўm at a payphone trying to call home / All of my change I spent on you / Where have the times gone? / Baby, itРІР‚в„ўs all wrong / Where are the plans we made for two?'. Thomas Chau from AOL Radio Blog called the song 'mellow' and compared it to the band's previous singles ' She Will Be Loved' (2004) and ' Won't Go Home Without You' (2007). Levine's vocal range spans from the low note of GРІв„ўР‡ 3 to the high note of B 4. 'Payphone' is written in the key of B РІв„ўВ major (recorded in B major), in common time, with a tempo of 110 beats per minute. Its instrumentation consists of funk guitars, bass and synths. It has a duration of 3 minutes and 51 seconds. 'Payphone' is a pop and R&B song that contains a hip hop beat and piano hook. A CD single containing the album version of the song together with a Thomas Penton/Barry Huffine remix was released on June 8 in Germany. A&M Octone Records serviced the song to contemporary hit radio in the US on April 24. On April 17, it was digitally released in most territories. 'Payphone' was released as a lead single from Overexposed on April 16, 2012, in the United States. Khalifa appears as courtesy of Rostrum Records. Jeremy 'Jbogs' Levin and David 'D Silb' Silberstein served as production coordinators. John Hanes mixed the song at Mixstar Studios in Virginia Beach and Phil Seaford was the mixing assistant. Shellback recorded 'Payphone' at Conway Studios in Los Angeles alongside Noah 'Mailbox' Pasovoy, while Eric Eylands served as the assistant engineer. However, producer Max Martin, who was the executive producer of Overexposed, adjusted the chorus, because he felt it should be a 'little different'. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Blanco told that five minutes before Khalifa arrived at the studio, he prepared 'the sound beds for the finger snap-driven portion of the jam'. I like when bands dip into a whole different genre.' For this, he commissioned Wiz Khalifa (whose singles ' No Sleep' and the then-upcoming ' Work Hard, Play Hard', Blanco has produced) to write and rap a verse on 'Payphone'.

Blanco also wanted to throw a wrench into the Maroon 5 works by adding hip-hop flavor to its sound, 'I love when things don't make sense, like, 'Holy fuck!' You don't hear him on the song at all. They gave it to Levine, who wrote the lyrics. The writing process started when Malik and Robopop constructed a piano line and demo track that Blanco compiled into a proper melody. Levine, Blanco, Shellback, and Malik also wrote the band's previous single 'Moves Like Jagger'. The song was written by Maroon 5's lead singer Adam Levine, along with Ammar Malik, Robopop, Benny Blanco, Shellback, and Wiz Khalifa, while production, programming, additional bass, keys, acoustic guitars and background vocals were provided by Shellback and Blanco. BackgroundР”В¬o-writer and co-producer Benny Blanco recalled American rapper Wiz Khalifa to write and sing a rap verse on 'Payphone'.

'Payphone' was the world's fifth best-selling single of 2012 with 9.5 million copies sold. It also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, making it the band's first-ever single to do so. It peaked at number one in Canada for eight consecutive weeks. The song sold 493,000 copies in its first week, becoming the best sales week for a digital song by a group and also the eleventh-best sales week overall. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song debuted at the number three spot before peaking at number two. In July 2012, 'Payphone' was named Song of the Summer for 2012 by Idolator. The video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video, but lost out to ' What Makes You Beautiful' by One Direction. The video was positively received from critics, who considered it an enjoyable mini-action film. Because of this, he must escape from a fleet of policemen, which he does with ease.

The official music video was directed by Samuel Bayer, and finds Levine taking down some bank robbers and attempting to become the 'hero' in a hail of bullets as he makes his escape, steals a gun from a robber, and then gets mistaken for one. It has received favorable reviews from music critics, who praised the catchy melody and named it 'a radio success', but some others dismissed its title and Khalifa's appearance.

The song is a pop ballad and describes a romance that ended abruptly. The song was written by Adam Levine, Benny Blanco, Ammar Malik, Robopop, Shellback, and Khalifa, and produced by Blanco and Shellback. It was released on April 16, 2012, as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Overexposed (2012). ' Payphone' is a song by American pop rock band Maroon 5 featuring American rapper Wiz Khalifa.

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