Nick Jonas: Nick Jonas
Details
Genre: Pop, r&bPros:
Cooler, urban-aimed and refreshingly trendy; Nick Jonas is growing upCons:
A bit safe around the edges, trend-copying evidentNick 2.0 — more muskier and manly on self-titled disc
Nick 2.0 — more muskier and manly on self-titled disc
Since the breakup of Disney pop band The Jonas Brothers, mid-brother Nick has been on a mission to freshen up his identity. He tried to take up a harder grownup sound using the shortlived band The Administration in 2010. Sales tanked and his world of music was abruptly shut down. Although lukewarm songwriting and spotty performances have usually vexed their every move, much of the fault behind Jonas and his star siblings has been placed on their entrapment to motionless management and a call of duty to holiness; enter into evidence Exhibit A: the chastity ring. Earlier last year word quickly leaked that the promise ring was no longer needed and Jonas begun traveling newer paths of self-discovery. An acting gig for DirecTV’s Kingdom is sharpening his ImdB resume; there’s even dialogue with the gays in his fan base — all a part of a PR move to alert them to his TV character, who has been confirmed to be gay. Jonas is smart to do all of this while his newest solo album lands on digital download services.
The self titled collection (2014’s Nick Jonas) allows him to start all over again, hoping he can find a cozy place in a pop market now overpopulated by big divas like Minaj, Swift, Azalea and Grande. Jonas 2.0 is a bit more muskier and manly. In the newly imported Usher-styled format, he sounds like he’s weeks into sporting facial hair. “Jealous,” a spot-on teleportation into Miguel’s “Adorn,” feels just right on him, even if his voice feels like Wham! on a splice of urban swag. He goes the sensual falsetto route on the lustful ballad “Push.” Odd-n-B tricks once imagined by innovator Frank Ocean decorate the bases of “Warning.” It gets a bit more experimental on “Wilderness,” which contains a interpolation of a Underground Railroad chant. As fuzzy as it sounds on paper, the groove, supplied by a combustible live band, prices to be the album’s crowning moment. No one will hardly notice, since it’s totally surrounded by sex shooter jams (“Numb,” “Take Over,” “Push”). Not everything inside this urban wall of sound seems congealed: “I Want You” is very much a forgettable B-side evet. But his duet with former Disney label mate Demi Lovato on “Avalanche” salvages the album’s back side, as if Chris Brown had submerged himself in a Ryan Tedder songwriters camp.
