Jon Bon Jovi has opened up about suffering years of “dark misery” before making his new Bon Jovi album ‘Forever‘.
The frontman of the American rock outfit spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock about the rough years without joy he endured which inspired the creation of the band’s 16th studio LP.
“The overarching sentiment of this album is that of joy,” he told the outlet. “How did I get to joy? I had to work through a lot of dark misery!”
He continued: “Our last record, which was called ‘2020’, was a lot of observations and narratives about what was going on in the world around us – whether it was the COVID crises or George Floyd, shootings in schools, soldiers with PTSD.”
He also spoke about how he wanted to tour that album but wasn’t able to do so. He then turned his attention to the 40th anniversary of Bon Jovi, only to realise he was struggling with his vocal cords.
“I’m thinking about where to go musically, and I run into a problem physically, where now I have to seek out a specialist in the field to do a vocal surgery that is not often done,” He said.
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“And yet, it’s our 40th anniversary and I want to mark this moment in time,” he continued. “I hire a guy – Deepak Chopra’s son, Gotham Chopra – to do this film. I give him total control; I meet him out in Los Angeles and he says, ‘I get it. I’m interested in doing it.’ But he says, ‘It shouldn’t be a puff piece. That’s the last thing you need.’ I said, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ We set out on this journey together.”
The four-part docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story – which will debut on HULU in the US and Disney+ in the UK on April 26 – will detail the singer’s turbulent decade and explore the band’s 40th anniversary.
Bon Jovi said that the docuseries will explain “why we are what we are,” including “all of the truths, all of the warts, all of the punches in the nose that got us to this place.”
He reflected: “But on the other end of it all came joy – and my ability to look up in the morning, see the sky and say, ‘Huh, that big red ball up in there is the sun, and it’s shining!’”
‘Forever’ will mark the band’s first album out in four years and the first to be released following the frontman’s vocal surgery. Speaking of the creation of ‘Forever’ in a press release, the singer shared: “This record is a return to joy. From the writing, through the recording process, this is turn up the volume, feel good Bon Jovi.” The is set for release on June 7 via EMI and you can pre-save/pre-order it here.
In other news, Bon Jovi recently revealed that he is not sure whether he will be able to tour again after undergoing surgery on his vocal cords in 2022.