Posted by One of the remarkable aspects of the pandemic is that truly touched everyone’s lives. Nick Jonas might enjoy the positive aspects of wealth and fame – and he’d be the first to confront his privilege in that regard – but the pandemic drastically upended his existence. Removed from the support of fans, and with his wife Priyanka Chopra spending the bulk of 2020 shooting a new film, the pop icon found himself – perhaps for the first time – really, truly alone.
As a result, new solo album ‘Spaceman’ attempts to balance that familiar sense of isolation and pandemic disconnection with some of his most effective solo bops yet. Sonically, his first solo album since 2016’s ‘Last Year Was Complicated’ sits in a lane coloured by post-Bieber tropical pop matched to arena-level chops from the boy wonder. It’s soulful, though, with its pangs of yearning dished out with a side order of Abel Tesfaye’s 21st century R&B excursions.
Pleading and urgent opener ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’ is a strong and effective starting point; the punchy, powerful vocal is one of his best solo performances to date, while the arrangement wrings out every ounce of intensity to those pangs of loneliness. Switching things up on spicy cut ‘Heights’, Nick then delves into his sense of lockdown loss on the title track. Indeed, the way the lyrics spell out the prosaic elements of pandemic paranoia – “TV tells me what to think / bad news makes me want to drink / I feel like a Spaceman…” – are all-too-relatable who has spent the past 12 months doom-scrolling through endless dystopian updates.
Curiously, though, the album balances this with a physical throb, as Nick Jonas details the empty longing that comes with his solitude. ‘Sexual’ is all primed to explode, while the throbbing 80s Miami strut of ‘Deeper Love’ is Nick Jonas at his peacock best.
The soulful ‘If I Fall’ echoes those early Weeknd moments – think the eeriness of the Trilogy and you’d be close – while the gaunt, straight-to-the-point lyricism of ‘Death Us Do Part’ is an attempt to locate a path through a landscape dominated by so much loss.
A strong return that offers subtle evolution while playing to his strengths, ‘Spaceman’ continues Nick Jonas’ solo journey while retaining aspects of his previous work. At times the sonic influences can feel a little too obvious, but that is balanced by the undoubted highs, and the frank openness of his lyricism. Just take closer ‘Nervous’ and its take on the pressures of commitment, with Nick Jonas admitting to a lingering feeling of being unworthy of the relationship he is in; “after all this time your love’s still making me nervous…”
One of his most rounded and adult statements to date, ‘Spaceman’ is certainly worth exploring – as lockdown hobbies go, it’s up there with banana bread as one of the most tasteful.
7/10
Words: Robin Murray
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