Bon Jovi talk âjoyousâ new album and battling health problems: âWeâre not dead yetâ
Jon Bovi Jovi has spoken to NME about the âjoyousâ new Bon Jovi album âForeverâ, his ongoing recovery from vocal surgery, the chances of an ABBA Voyage-style hologram show as well as being inspired by The Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift.
âForeverâ is Bon Joviâs 16th studio album and is due for release June 7 in time to celebrate the bandâs 40th anniversary. Speaking about the decision to release new music instead of leaning into the nostalgia of the milestone, Jon Bon Jovi explained: âIâve never had a shortage of thoughts and ideas for new music. Weâve always wanted to continue striving to make great albums.â
âForeverâ also follows on from the four-part Disney+ documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story that premiered earlier this year.
âYouâre supposed to die after you see your life flash before your eyes,” he joked, “but weâre not dead yet.”
Bon Jovi originally reached out to director Gotham Chopra after seeing his Tom Brady documentary series Man In The Arena. âIf he understands a sports team, heâll understand a band,â he reasoned. âFrom the start, we all agreed that we didnât want a puff piece. We wanted four decades, four episodes, and thatâs as much direction as we gave Chopra before I shook his hand and left him to it.â
Thank You, Goodnight was released in April and Bon Jovi has found the positive response âmind-blowingâ.
Equally mind-blowing, he explained, was the response to âForeverâ lead single âLegendaryâ â giving the band their highest Billboard charting position in over a decade.
âObviously every artist is ecstatic about their new album, otherwise why would you put it out, but to have âLegendaryâ become a hit? You have to laugh,â said Bon Jovi. âYou think youâve got it every time, but Iâve been disappointed more than Iâve been surprised or pleased.â
As well as becoming a radio hit, âLegendaryâ has also been chosen as the theme tune for Japanese-language drama Blue Moment:Â a live-action adaptation of the webcomic of the same name. Bon Joviâs initial reaction to the news? âGet the fuck out of here. Generations, cultures and languages may divide us but our music remains relatable,â he added. âI have to be amazed weâre still able to have that connection. I guess thatâs the proof that weâre not dead yet.â
At one point, the new Bon Jovi album was also going to be called âLegendaryâ â but that apparently felt a bit too presumptuous. âYou can call yourself ‘legendary’ in the mirror all you want, but you canât say it in public,” he said. “It would just be too much.”
As well as exploring the bandâs 40 year journey, Thank You, Goodnight also showed Jon Bon Jovi dealing with vocal issues that resulted in him having surgery in 2022. He’s on record as  saying that he might never perform live again.
However, he never went into âForeverâ thinking it could be the final Bon Jovi album. âThe process of singing in the studio wasnât difficult, it was just different,â he said. âWhat you see in the documentary was two years ago now and Iâm much further down the road to recovery.”
Bon Jovi has yet to pencil in a comeback gig, though. âIâm still not confident I could do two-and-a-half hours a night, four days a week and I wonât book a gig until Iâve done that on a rehearsal level,” said Bon Jovi, whoâs currently capable of practicing for three hours a day, two days in a row. âAt this moment in time, weâre rehearsing once a month just to see the progress. Iâm not there yet and it blows.â
Jon Bon Jovi has said numerous times that he wonât return to the stage until heâs back at 100 per cent health.
âWhen we first started out, The Rolling Stones had just turned 40 and we thought they were old then, but theyâre still setting the bar to this day. That band are role models, not only to us, but the generation that has come after us,â he revealed. âLook at Paul McCartney, heâs 81 and still making records. Bruce Springsteen is doing three-and-a-half hour concerts at 74 and is still on fucking fire. People donât want you to be average.”
He continued: âI donât ever want to be Fat Elvis. He was only 42 when he died because he didnât have anyone offering him help. He was bloated, on drugs and booze, and was just a fucking train wreck. Iâm not going out like that, simple as. You learn from those who came before you.”
Admitting that the “uncertainty is scary” when it comes to “striving every day to get better,â Bon Jovi said that he’d only ever either throw himself entirely into something or call it a day.
âOne thing I do know is that when I lay my head on the pillow after the decision has been made, one way or the other, there will be 100 per cent confidence in the decision,” he said. “Being in a rock band is never going to feel safe. Itâs not a life sentence, itâs a moment in time.”
In recent years, things like the ABBA Voyage avatar show have given bands a life after touring â with KISS and Elvis productions using similar hologram-like technology on the way. It doesn’t seem entirely unlikely that you’ll see something similar from Bon Jovi in years to come.
“I’m not opposed to it because to me, it’s a jukebox,â Bon Jovi explained.âIt’s no different than people listening to your music on the radio.â
Both âForeverâ and Thank You, Goodnight are celebrations of Bon Joviâs resilience. âWe certainly have persevered and no one knows the ending yet, which I dig,” he said. “The film is inconclusive, the record is hopeful but inconclusive. God forbid the outcome is me not being able to sing live anymore but if that happens, Iâll thank God for the opportunity to get this far,â he added.
Bon Jovi continued: âIf thereâs a lesson for the next generation, itâs that even my job isnât all wine and roses. Life is a series of ups and downs, struggles, little victories, and big defeats, all rolled into one. I couldnât have told that story before now, because I hadnât lived enough life yet.â
The big difference between ‘Forever’ and previous Bon Jovi albums, is the vocalist now knows exactly what he was trying to say with each song. âBack on our first record [1984âs self-titled âBon Joviâ) when I was writing âGet Readyâ and âBurning For Loveâ, I didnât know what the fuck I was saying,” he admitted. “I was just writing rhyme schemes. Those songs have no deeper meaning. 16 albums later, I can tell you what every song and every line is about. After that many records, you better learn how to do your craft.â
âFans will know âKiss The Brideâ was written by the guy who wrote âI Got The Girlâ 25 years ago and is now a dad,” Bon Jovi explained. The âBrown-Eyed Girlâ in âLegendaryâ is my wife, âWe Made It Look Easyâ is about the band, âSeedsâ is about self-help while âWavesâ is me saying you can either hold onto these painful memories of the last ten years, or you can learn to let them go.â
âForeverâ follows on from 2016âs âstatementâ album âThis House Is Not For Saleâ, the first Bon Jovi album following the departure of longterm guitarist and songwriter Richie Sambora, and the the furious, politically-charged â2020â. âIn light of the insurrection, it had to [be angry],â said Bon Jovi. âIf America was going to crumble, I wanted everybody to at least know what caused it.â
By contrast, thereâs a lot more hope and unity with âForeverâ. âItâs joyous, because we’re on the brink,â said Bon Jovi. âThe next six months in America are going to be very telling and whatever happens will reverberate around the world in some way. Itâs very real and I donât know whatâs going to happen with the great American experiment.â
Alongside an album that sees Jon Bon Jovi reunited for his first ever guitar and deliver a raft of triumphant rock anthems, the documentary told the store of a group of friends from New Jersey who became one of the biggest rock bands of all time through grit and determination. While the health of rock music is always in question, does Bon Jovi feel like using his platform to inspire a new generation?
âThat would be cool, but I’m confident that there’s enough new talent out there,â said Bon Jovi. âZach Bryan and Noah Kahan are both great storytellers, Taylor Swift is a whole industry onto herself and Inhaler are an incredible rock-pop band.
“Iâm waiting on the next The Killers to come along, though. I really do want to see another rock band in the world, but because other genres of music are so alive and rich in their storytelling. I think itâs just a matter of time before it happens.â
With so much to look back on for a 40th anniversary, the vocalist canât help but get reflective â but ultimate wants his legacy to be “a good catalogue of good music” above all else. That, he concluded, was enough to keep on reaching people regardless of if he could perform or not.
The rock icon ended: âSome people got on this ride in 1984 with âRunawayâ, others joined in â88 with âItâs My Lifeâ and now thereâs a new generation of kids finding out about Bon Jovi because of Disney+. How cool is that?
âWith streaming, teenagers can now listen to a song with the press of a button and they donât know if itâs from 1984 or 2024. Thereâs no artwork or music video to influence them, a song is just a song. If itâs good enough, itâll resonate with a new generation. Thatâs good fortune for us, because the journey continues.â
âForeverâ is out June 7 via EMI.