| The Album | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Jonas Brothers |
| Cover: | Jonas Brothers - The Album.png |
| Alt: | Cover artwork of The Album, a picture showing the band members in front of a white photography backdrop, on a canyon landscape |
| Recorded: | 2022 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 32:47 |
| Label: | Republic |
| Producer: |
|
| Prev Title: | The Family Business |
| Prev Year: | 2023 |
The Album is the sixth studio album by American pop rock band Jonas Brothers. It was released through Republic Records on May 12, 2023. The album features a sole guest appearance from Jon Bellion. Production was handled by Bellion himself, the Monsters & Strangerz, Pete Nappi, TenRoc, the Diner, Daniel Tashian, Ido Zmishlany, Johnny Simpson, and Colin Brittain.
Regarded as a more mature endeavor for the band, critics noticed the adult contemporary sound of the record. The brothers conceived the album to reflect their state of mind, with lyrics about enjoying life, parenthood, and their relationships. The concept for the album was to create the "quintessential Jonas Brothers album" that would capture the 1970s sound that influenced the brothers as musical artists.
The album's release was supported by three singles, "Wings", "Waffle House", and "Summer Baby". It serves as the follow-up to their previous album, Happiness Begins (2019). It peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 in its debut week, logging the band's seventh top-ten entry on the chart.
The Album was met with acclaim from music critics for its summer-themed, feel-good vibes as well as the nostalgic influences on the record. To support The Album and their other four previous albums, the Jonas Brothers have embarked on the Five Albums. One Night. The World Tour.
On February 25, 2020, during an interview on the Today show, Nick Jonas revealed that the group had been working on a new album with Ryan Tedder and that the details were "going to be announced in the next couple weeks", also hinting that "What a Man Gotta Do", a single that they had released the previous month, would serve as the potential lead single for it.[1] On September 23, 2022, the group posted a picture of Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas in a recording studio with Jon Bellion, who was sitting at a piano, writing that they were in the process of creating the album, in which Joe also hinted at its completion.[2]
On January 13, 2023, Nick appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, in which he shared that the album had been completed and that the Jonas Brothers were currently "kind of in that planning moment with the campaign, the album, the single – all the things".[3] Exactly two weeks later, Nick, Joe, and Kevin sat down for an interview with Variety, in which they revealed that the album includes elements of 1970s pop and Americana "with a modern edge" and is partly influenced by the Bee Gees.[4] Speaking to Vanity Fair, the band stated that they also took inspiration from Carole King and Jefferson Starship, while revealing the titles of a few songs from it: "Wings", "Montana Sky", "Vacation Eyes", "Little Bird", and "Waffle House". For the Grammy Awards, the brothers revealed America, Eagles, The Police and The Doobie Brothers as other sources of inspiration for the creation of the album.[5]
On January 29, Joe teased a snippet video of "Wings" through social media that showed him in a studio with both Nick and Kevin.[6] The following day, all three brothers went on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where they announced that the album would be titled The Album and was set to be released on May 5.[7] On February 22, the brothers announced that its release had been pushed back exactly a week to May 12 in order to publish it alongside its vinyl version.[8]
For the album, the band opted for a funk-inspired pop album with references to the late 1970s pop grooves of Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, the Doobie Brothers and the Bee Gees, with the brothers stating they took inspiration from Oasis' "Wonderwall" and Paul McCartney's "Hey Jude" for providing the blueprint for songs on the record.
Work on The Album began in 2022 when Bellion met with the brothers in Nick's house to discuss the album's art direction. The producer assisted the band in realizing their goals and desired sound for the record. The first song they recorded was "Montana Sky", noted as "a spacious pop song with a breezy, filtered acoustic guitar and a thrumming baseline, which set the mood for the whole album" by Vanity Fair.[9]
The lyrics of "Wings" refer to the feeling of flying when one is around someone exceptional.[10] The song was described by Billboard as "lofty" and "soaring" for its production and lyrical content.[11] On the creative process for "Waffle House", the brothers explained that the song's content does not talk about the restaurant chain of the same name, but about "coming together with the people you love and making your dreams come true".[12] During the band's early years as musicians, they frequently visited Waffle House to discuss career prospects, which is how the lyrics came to be.[13]
During an interview with Dork, the brothers discussed the song "Summer Baby", revealing that it began as a Shania Twain-inspired country song, with lyrics about people not taking themselves too seriously and being proud of who they are. Joe added that their goal was to compose a song that would be played "at every family barbecue" and is reminiscent of "simpler times before the world became as complicated and nuanced as it is now".[14]
Savannah Roberts of Capital FM described "Little Bird", the eleventh song on the album, as a "heartwarming" song with lyrical content referencing the band's daughters and fatherhood.[15] The song was described by the singers and critics alike as one of their most personal work to date.[16]
See also: Five Albums. One Night. The World Tour.
To promote their then-upcoming album, the brothers announced a five-night Broadway residency at the Marquis Theatre from March 14 through March 18, 2023.[17] The concept was that each night they would play the entirety of one of their catalog albums (starting with Jonas Brothers and finishing with their then-forthcoming release, The Album) while also performing their greatest hits.[18] On March 18, 2023, the fifth and last night of their Broadway residency,[19] the band performed most of the songs for the yet-unreleased album, along with some of their older hit songs,[20] as well as some hit songs from the brothers' side musical projects (Nick as a solo artist and Joe's other band, DNCE).[21]
To support the album, as well as their previous four albums, the band embarked on a world tour,[22] where they intend to perform all songs from Jonas Brothers (2007), A Little Bit Longer (2008), Lines, Vines and Trying Times (2009), Happiness Begins (2019) and The Album (2023) at every concert.[23] The tour started on August 12, 2023,[24] and is set to conclude on October 16, 2024,[25] consisting of a total of 106 shows.[26] [27]
The lead single of the album, "Wings", was released on February 24, 2023.[28] It was accompanied by a music video,[29] released on the same day,[30] starring American actress Haley Lu Richardson.[31] The second single, "Waffle House",[32] was released on April 7, 2023, also being accompanied by a music video,[33] directed by Anthony Mandler, released on April 28, 2023.[34] [35] The third single, "Summer Baby", was sent to adult contemporary radio on June 5, 2023.[36]
The Album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who described it as enjoyable and ageless. Retropop called the album "timeless" thanks to its "plethora of influences from across the decades".[37] The Independents Helen Brown said of the album does not "push for edge or originality. But you'd have to be the barbecue grinch to deny its lovingly crafted, feel-good vibes".[38]
Maura Johnston from Rolling Stone wrote that the band's sixth album "has summertime pop sparkle", calling it "a sparkling pop party full of romance and hooks", stating that the three brothers, along with the producers, showed off their songwriting and harmonic chops. And while commenting on the album as a body of work, she noted that its production shows how the band's ambition grows with the expansion of its legacy.[39] For Billboard, Hannah Dailey stated: "The Album is saturated with bright synths and unabashed joy, as Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas profess their love for their ladies, their kids and their carefree lifestyle, making for a final product that's poised for many hours of summer playback",[40] while also naming the single "Wings" as the best song on the record.[41]
The Hollywood Reporter named "Vacation Eyes", the eighth track on the album, as the third best song of 2023, citing "the kind of soft pop, yacht rock sound we want from them" as the brothers "entered their adult contemporary era".[42] Variety named "Summer Baby", the third single off the album, as the 16th best song of 2023, with Steven J. Horowitz noting that Jonas Brothers and Bellion "wrote a love letter to yacht rock (and their wives) that snapshots what it means to be doe-eyed in love", and adding that the adult contemporary sound suited to them.[43]
On a more negative review, Jackson Rickun from Slant Magazine wrote that the album "lacks in curiosity". He felt that the exploration of different genres didn't meet its full potential, expressing that the band failed to place "their own unique mark" on the songs.
In the United States, The Album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, earning 52,000 album-equivalent units (including 35,500 in pure album sales) in its first week. This became the Jonas Brothers' seventh top ten album on the chart. The album also accumulated a total of 20.5 million on-demand streams of the album's songs.[44]
The album also marked the band's fourth number one on Billboards Top Album Sales chart, according to Luminate. The trio previously led the chart with their albums Happiness Begins (2019), Lines, Vines and Trying Times (2009) and A Little Bit Longer (2008).[45] Out of the 35,500 copies of the album that were sold in its first week, 29,000 were sold physically (20,000 on CD and 9,000 on vinyl) and 6,500 digitally.[46]
Internationally, The Album debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart, marking their second highest debut in the United Kingdom, after Happiness Begins debuted at number two back in 2019.[47] It also charted at number eleven on the UK Cassette Albums (OCC).[48]
Note
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[49]
| Position | ||
| UK Cassette Albums (OCC) | 11 | |
|---|---|---|
| US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard)[50] | 92 |
| Date | Format(s) | Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | May 12, 2023 | Republic | [51] | |
| United Kingdom | Polydor | [52] |