Bon Jovi‘s new album, FOREVER, their first since 2020, is out Friday. Jon Bon Jovi wrote many of the songs while recovering from his 2022 vocal surgery and says that in those songs, he found joy again after going through several negative experiences.
“My health concerns were certainly one of them,” he tells ABC Audio. “Another one was that our last album was written and released during COVID. So remember, we were all living in a much different time, and [this] was an opportunity to write a joyous record.”
Jon adds, “This House Is Not For Sale, the album before that, was a ‘statement’ record. So it took me basically a decade to get back to this place.”
Calling an album FOREVER is a bold statement, even for a band marking their 40th anniversary this year. “It can mean different things to different people at the end of the day. I think that’s the bottom line,” Jon says. However, they did consider other titles.
“There were a few, but nothing moved anyone in the band emotionally,” he says. “I had had a couple that I was sort of pitching, to be honest with you, and even I wasn’t buying. So when this one came up, we thought it was fitting as a companion piece to the [Hulu] documentary.”
Jon’s ongoing recovery from vocal surgery means the band isn’t touring at the moment, but the album’s single, “Legendary,” has found a place on radio alongside the younger artists who Jon says he likes, like Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan.
“I listen to lyrics, you know? I mean, it’s sort of my job,” he says. “I think that there’s some great storytellers out there who are all telling their truth.”
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