Getty Images, Splash NewsAnother celeb has announced her crush on Adam Levine. Is he replacing Ryan Gosling as the Hollywood crush of the moment? And why is Levine so suddenly sexy, anyway?
—Bellini, via the inbox
We'll get to Adam Levine's desirability in a minute. (That shark tat and his association with Maroon 5 don't help, so it's worth analyzing.)
But first, the crush in question: Jennifer Love Hewitt, who seems to love posing naked as much as Levine does, says she wants to "massage" the Voice judge. All righty then. Does that make Levine has replaced Ryan Gosling as the man Hollywood loves to lust after? I found out:
And the answer is no. Not even close.
Yep, Levine sure is hot, and it's a hotness that does seem rather sudden. After all, Levine's origins aren't exactly the stuff of female fantasy; he used to be a writer's assistant on the lady legal drama Judging Amy, penning songs about his ex-girlfriend in his spare time. Those lyrics became the Maroon 5 album Songs About Jane. Maroon 5 itself is often cited as a band that cool people love to mock.
But then came a sexual cataclysm of events: Levine took a judge's chair on The Voice, establishing himself as the exact opposite of the bro-ish, douchey image he threw off in still photos. This tatted up "man whore"—Page Six's words, not mine—actually turned out to be funny, approachable, low-key, authentic and an inspiration to the kids he chose for his team.
"He is so different," notes Amber Kelleher, CEO of the über-matchmaking firm Kelleher International. "He's got this GQ look about him, but there's also an innocence about him. He doesn't even really know how sexy he is."
But Levine wasn't through seducing us yet. With Maroon 5, he partnered with Christina Aguilera to produce the most addictive song ever: "Moves Like Jagger." (The video featured Levine's amazing abs, a fact that was not lost on the hornier among us.)
Then Levine split with his model girlfriend, Victoria's Secret stork Anne Vyalitsnya.
Add it all up, and no wonder people like Jennifer Love Hewitt have found themselves very, very interested. Even guys like Blake Shelton admit to man-crushes on Levine.
But none of that adds up to even one-tenth of the obsession the world has with Gosling. And, Kelleher says, it's a very different kind of appeal.
"He has this fantastic confidence about him, this sexiness that he exudes from a sheer level of confidence," she says. "It's the way he gazes across a room, the way he holds his posture, everything."
No wonder that guy racks up a new star crush every hour on the hour. Elle Fanning, Khloé Kardashian Odom, Kendall Jenner, Vanessa Hudgens—all have said they'd like to submit him to closer examination. Daniel Radcliffe has said that if he were gay, Gosling would definitely be his type of man.
And when People crowned Bradley Cooper its sexiest man alive, the world freaked. The hell. Out.
Until Levine garners that kind of response, Gosling will remain the more desirable piece of man candy.