Adam Levine Reveals Paul McCartney’s 4-Word Reaction to Maroon 5’s Beatles Covers — and Why He Later Apologized

Levine called McCartney a “really beautiful soul,” and said he found his joking jab funny

It can be tough to do the greatest rock band of all time justice — just ask Adam Levine.

The Maroon 5 frontman opened up about the time he covered The Beatles in front of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, prompting a joking jab from McCartney himself.

Levine, 46, and guitarist James Valentine appeared on The Howard Stern Show on Thursday, April 10, and reflected on Maroon 5’s performance on the 2014 CBS special The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles, where they sang the band’s hits “Ticket to Ride” and “All My Loving.”

The concert special honored the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ breakthrough performances on The Ed Sullivan Show, and Levine said they were told by show producers that they’d be performing the songs with McCartney and Starr in the audience.

“Listen, man. I told you I’ve been scared a handful of f—ing times in my life, that was definitely one of them,” he said. “I was like, ‘Holy s–t.’ I mean, I’m sorry man, but you can be too cool, but not always. It’s Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. F–k off if you’re gonna try to be cool about that.”

After the performance, the “Misery” singer ran into McCartney, who pulled him in for a few words.

“Paul kind of took me in close and he goes, ‘You know, we did it better,’” he recalled. “And I thought it was so funny. I cracked up and I was like, ‘No s–t, you’re Paul McCartney.’”

A few months later, the Voice coach said he was at a party when his wife, Behati Prinsloo, alerted him that McCartney was trying to get his attention.

“He’s like, ‘Hey man, I just wanted to let you know if that bothered you… I’ve been thinking about this. I didn’t want to insult you or anything,’” he recalled. “It was something like that, like, if I insulted you, I apologize. And I was like, ‘Oh my god. You’re good. Dude, you’re Paul f—ing McCartney.’”

The experience was a positive one for Levine, who said it helped him see the rock legend in a new light.

“It kind of shattered, in a great way, this whole thing about your heroes being who they are,” he said. “He’s a human being with a beating heart and a really beautiful soul who actually was thoughtful enough to even take that into account that maybe for some reason my feelings might’ve been hurt, but of course they were not.”

Earlier this week, Levine confirmed that Maroon 5 is hard at work on new music, and will tour sometime later this year.

“There’s a single coming at the end of the month-ish. I’m really excited about it,” he said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “An album is coming over the summer. Non-specifically around the summertime. And then, even more non-specifically, there is a tour coming in the fall-ish.”

The new album, the name for which has not yet been revealed, will follow 2021’s Jordi.

Maroon 5 embarked on a short East Coast tour last year and played a series of shows for their Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The shows — which kicked off in March 2023 — wrapped in October.