[4] The band has performed the song multiple times including the Maroon V Tour (2015–2018), as well as the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and The Today Show.

"Maps" is an up-tempo pop rock track,[7] with sheet music in the key of C♯ minor (with the main chord progression of A–B–C♯m - both in the verses and the chorus - and F♯m–G♯m-G♯7 in the pre-chorus), that contains a "breezy guitar lick".

"[2][8] Idolator's Robbie Daw wrote that "similar to Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven", "Maps" has a "Sting/The Police vibe, particularly with the guitar licks and Levine's multi-tracked vocal harmonies on the chorus."

[7] Music Times commented, "With his [Levine's] singsong melody over the relaxed, plucked guitars and subtle drums, Maroon 5 create a chill vibe before building the song into something a bit more powerful.

"[9] Shortly after its release, "Maps" quickly reached number one on the Billboard Twitter Real Time Trending 140 chart, eventually staying within the upper ranks for several hours.

The song also logged close to 1,800 first-day spins on radio which, according to the Nielsen BDS, would amount to a one-day audience impression of seventeen million.

[17] "Maps" also marks the first music video appearance in two years of keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, who returned after taking a temporary break from performing with the band.

The other members of the group: the aforementioned Mickey Madden, guitarist James Valentine, keyboardist PJ Morton and drummer Matt Flynn are portraying some of the guests seen at a house party and the band's assistant manager Shawn Tellez, who plays a partygoer.

The video begins when a worried Adam Levine enters a hospital and searches the emergency room until he finds a young woman, revealed to be his girlfriend (Tereza Kacerova), as the paramedics attempt to resuscitate her; but he is ushered out.

In another scene, Levine is helping his girlfriend choose which dress to wear and they watch a football (soccer) game on television together and then the camera fastly turn back into the beginning.

[citation needed] Maroon 5 performed "Maps" for the first time on June 20, 2014, during their concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, as part of the American Express' EveryDay Live.

The band played the song for The Today Show on June 25, at Rockefeller Plaza in New York[19] (they did again on September 1, 2014, that was the day before the world premiere of the V album).