After navigating the 'lowest point' of his life, Joe Jonas is letting his music speak for itself
Alongside his siblings Nick and Kevin, he's been filling stadiums and concert venues for two decades, thanks to the massive global success of the Jonas Brothers' smash singles and platinum albums. His personal life has been piquing tabloid interest since he was a teenager. Even after the band went their separate ways in 2013 (a split since remedied), Joe did not stray too far from center stage, forming his dance-rock project, DNCE, two years later, and notching another international hit and an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist for the group.
But this time is different. Fourteen years after putting out his debut solo album, Joe is going it alone once again for its follow-up, Music for People Who Believe in Love.
"I just wanted to make it really complicated for people to remember," Jonas jokes of its mouthful of a title. But it does encapsulate his mission when he set out to write new music. "It came from a definitive idea of what I was wanting to create and knowing what I didn't want to create," he tells Entertainment Weekly days before the record's release.
His first solo full-length, Fastlife, seems like a lifetime ago — an R&B-inspired club-pop offering from a 22-year-old chasing trends and trying to carve out his own space in the industry. His maturity since then is striking. Music for People Who Believe in Love is fizzy and confident, with Jonas drawing from a wide range of influences to counterbalance its lyrics, in which he mourns, pleads, and lays his insecurities bare.
While he admits the music is his most personal to date, he considers its themes universal. "Everybody can hopefully find a song on the album and say, 'Oh, this feels like something I'm going through, something I connect with,'" Jonas says. "That's the goal for me."
As his lyrics reflect, Jonas' past few years have been marked by a series of big life changes. The pop star married Game of Thrones alum Sophie Turner in 2019, became the father of two daughters, and then contended with the fallout from his and Turner's heavily publicized divorce, which they announced in 2023 and finalized last September. In the wake of it all, Jonas has latched onto a feeling of appreciation.
"I was really grateful, looking at who [and] what I have in my life," he tells EW. "Sometimes you just got to look up from your phone and smell the flowers and see everything will be all right. And that really stuck out to me."
The album's closer, "Constellations," captures that feeling. "I felt every fear / Till the fear ran out / I felt every pain," Jonas sings on the track. "But we made it somehow / Built a monument / Saw it all fall down / Saw a brand-new shape / And a brand-new sound / Everything I lost / Everything I found / Lose it all again / Just to be here now."
That's no coincidence. "It's the last song on the record for a reason," Jonas says. "I was trying to sum up a lot of different things, but emotionally where I was at in my life. It's just so easy to look at what's in front of you instead of taking a big step back and looking at the whole picture."
He continues, "When I was probably at my lowest point in my life, I just felt like it was all crumbling around me. And I was just like, 'What is this weird simulation I'm in? What is happening?' And then you take a beat and you sit back and you're like, 'Wait, everything's okay now.'"
Jonas points to a piece of advice he received from a friend: "You just got to let it breathe, like a nice bottle of mulled wine. Let it breathe.'"
When it comes to addressing the recent upheaval he's experienced, the lyrics of "Constellations" is about as specific as he's willing to get. "Emotionally, I'd rather let the music do the talking for me," he says. "As artists, we have the beauty of being able to say, 'I don't want to say what this is, but I'm happy to have you listen, and hopefully you find connectivity with the tunes.' Whether you relate with the feelings I was going through, or you connect with the energy of certain songs — that's what I care about."
Jonas didn't initially plan on diving into another project, especially a solo one, he says. It's not as though he lacked creative outlets — the Jonas Brothers have been full steam ahead since reuniting in 2019. They've released two albums, with a third on the way, and gotten back into the rhythm of touring together. In March, they hosted JonasCon, a fan convention to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary, in East Rutherford, N.J., their home state.
But in the middle of a JoBros writing camp, while working on a funky and flirtatious track called "Only Love," Jonas says he tapped into something that he then wanted to dive into headfirst — on his own.
"I just felt really drawn to create more in the same world and looked over at Kevin and Nick and said, 'Guys, I kind of want to have your blessing to take this song and explore what it could be,'" he recalls. "'If you'll say yes, then I'll take it and get in the studio and write and record. I'm not sure if it's going to be for the Brothers or DNCE or solo. I don't know.'"
With his siblings' approval, he moved forward. After "Only Love" came the 13 other songs that make up Music for People Who Believe in Love, an album that finds Jonas pulling from the various musical genres he grew up listening to. Yes, there's shimmery pop and frenzied funk, but he also looked to the country music his dad would blast during his childhood and the alternative rock he discovered as a teen for inspiration.
Though he stands alone on its cover, Jonas admits that "solo album" is a bit of a misnomer. The track list is packed with guest stars, including Sierra Ferrell, French singer Louane, Brazilian singer Luísa Sonza, folk-pop group Tiny Habits, and jazz duo Domi & JD Beck. The singer also enlisted more than a dozen producers, corralling the likes of Dan Nigro, Justin Tranter, Alexander 23, Jason Evigan, and Tommy English to a Los Angeles studio, where they knocked out the majority of the record in three weeks.
"I'm starting another band at this point," Jonas jokes, adding that he couldn't resist the urge to bring in other voices. "I honestly just kept thinking, 'Oh, this would be cool to have this person on this song or that song.' And I love supporting other artists."
Jonas Brothers diehards will recognize a familiar name on the album: Frankie Jonas. The former "bonus Jonas"–turned–social media star — who is also a musician — was on his older brother's mind when it came time to work on the catchy, electric guitar–laden track "Velvet Sunshine."
"I wrote Frank and I said, 'Hey, would you be down to be a part of this song that I'm doing?'" Joe recalls. "He just wrote, 'Fuck.'" Jonas pauses. "I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing." (Frankie later clarified that he intended to write, "Fuck, yeah.")
Being in the studio without his chief collaborators, Nick and Kevin, had its advantages. "The biggest difference is I can kind of be more selfish when it comes to the writing process," Jonas says. "When it's two other guys, especially two other guys you're in a band with, every voice matters."
But fear not, JoBro fans. Jonas also, somehow, found time to get the band back together. Their upcoming seventh LP, Greetings From Your Hometown, lands Aug. 8, exactly 19 years after they released their debut album, It's About Time. Two days later, they will kick off their Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour — 43 concerts across North America. JonasCon will hit the road, too, in the form of 10 free pre-show events.
"We always look at what each other are working on," Jonas says, noting that the trio called upon several collaborators who had a hand in his solo project. "I feel like one [act] inspires the other. I think we're going back to our roots with what the Brothers started doing, that more rock-pop stuff, and working with people we love."And how have the brothers changed since their early years as adolescent stars? "I feel like we all thought we had the best idea in the room. Now we realize, 'You probably don't have the best idea in the room,'" Jonas says. "One idea lifts up another, and you just got to be able to be ready to adjust and grow and mesh and mold. It's okay not to be super definitive on what you know and what you don't know. I think it's fun to be able to walk into a space and say, 'Dare to suck.'"
The newfound fearlessness includes the siblings finally unveiling music they've had in the vault for years. "We just never released it because we just felt like, 'Oh, one day this will make sense,'" Jonas says. "We have one song that's probably our next single, a song Nick worked on, I think, it must have been 10 years ago. So for any songwriters reading this, don't throw anything out. Just hold onto it if you can. You never know."
Music for People Who Believe in Love is available now. The Jonas Brothers' new album, Greetings From Your Hometown, is out Aug. 8, and the Jonas20: Living the Dream Tour kicks off Aug. 10.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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