Nick Jonas - Last Year Was Complicated [Review]

After an apparently torrid breakup, ex-Jonas Brothers member Nick Jonas got to work on his second (although technically third, including 2004's album Nicholas Jonas) studio album, Last Year Was Complicated. Something that I have often debated is whether or not pop music generally conveys heartbreak in a meaningful, believable way, and as much as I love a lot of pop music, my stance is that it usually does not. Pop music is generally out mainly to make money, so deep, impactful, and raw stream-of-consciousness style music is generally sacrificed for short, memorable, and catchy hooks. This was the main problem that I had with Gwen Stefani's latest effort, This Is What the Truth Feels Like; most of it feels like a generic pop album about lovey-dovey euphoria and sexual attraction when it had been teased as being a response to her divorce from Bush and Institute frontman Gavin Rossdale. I was gleefully happy, however, that Nick's Last Year Was Complicated is a wonderful exception. Nick's lyrics are brutally raw and honest, and he doesn't pull any punches regarding how it feels to lose someone whom you love(d). The songs are catchy but not at the expense of being superficial. The album streams through a lot of moods and emotions, but just about all of them are related to a relationship ending, which does tend to involve a lot of emotions - sadness, despair, loneliness, anger, and, of course, a sense of newfound freedom and strength. I think that Last Year Was Complicated captures all of these feelings effectively.

The album opens with "Voodoo." I do wish that there were some sort of soft intro to the song because it rather abruptly opens the album with a beat. The song has a middle-eastern influence and is a fast-paced electropop dance song. Lyrically, the song is somewhat similar to "Chains," the opening track from the previous self-titled album. He compares the hold that a woman has over him to voodoo, as if she can abuse him in one way or another but keep getting him to come back to her. He finally declares, however, that "I ain't fuckin' with your voodoo." It sort of has a dark sound to it, which is very different from the second track, "Champagne Problems." "Champagne Problems" is an upbeat electropop song sort of similar to something that Calvin Harris might produce. The most telling lyrics of the song are probably the following: "How did our clothes end up on the floor? Didn't we just break each other's hearts? Didn't you have one foot out the door? Better to fall in love than lose. Wish I didn't have to choose." The song is about being at the end of a failing relationship but being afraid of ending it. The speaker tries to reason that the problems in the relationship can probably be solved with alcohol, so he decides to try to extend the relationship by drinking with his partner. It's not much happier lyrically than "Voodoo," but it is happier sonically. Once Last Year Is Complicated hits its third track, titled "Close," however, it reaches its softest point thus far.

"Close" is the album's leading single and features vocals from Tove Lo. It is a synthy low-energy pop song, and Nick has said that it is a very personal song (as he has also said of the album in general). What I love about the song is that it calls attention to the infallible nature of the phrase that many of us have probably heard: "I need some space." The speaker reasons that "space is just a word made up by someone who's afraid to get too close." I have found myself that whenever someone, especially a lover, says that they need space, it usually means that they are growing uncomfortable in your presence for one reason or another and want to end the relationship. The same is true of the phrase "Let's take a break." Rarely do "breaks" ever end. I do, as I said, love the lyrical nature of this song because not many musicians really seem to call attention to this subject, and I also love the chorus of this song because it's melodically beautiful and catchy. The fourth track is "Chainsaw," which is the album's second single. Nick has apparently said that he considers "Chainsaw" to be the most personal song that he has ever written, and it is about wanting to destroy everything that reminds him of his ex-lover (a feeling that I understand all too well). In the music video, Nick walks around a deserted home and experiences a flood of memories with his ex-lover before finally burning the house down, an obvious analogy to finally moving past that part of your life. It's somewhat downbeat, but the chorus is really catchy, and it's one of my favorite songs from the album.

The fifth track picks up the pace a bit with "Touch," a song during which Nick could potentially remind one of JT with his high register. The very beginning of the song might also remind one of Nick's days with Nick Jonas and the Administration with its acoustic intro. Although the acoustic sound drives nearly the entire song, once the song gets past its intro, it's also driven by an R&B-esque beat. This is one song on the album that one could argue deviates from the breakup theme and instead defers to the aforementioned theme of sexual attraction. It it not a rough transition in my opinion, however, because the fact that it demonstrates a desperate desire for this woman suggests to me that it could be from the perspective of someone who is missing the spiritual and sexual connection that he had with his ex-lover (similar a bit to the track "Under You"). The song's lyrics are extremely suggestive in its chorus: "I go from touchin' you with both hands, babe, to touchin' you with no hands... That's my favorite way of touchin' you." It is (definitely intentionally) a double-entendre, as it could either mean that he enjoys touching her spiritually and on a mental/emotional level and could also mean that he enjoys having sex with her. It is deliberately ambiguous and deliberately intended to convey both meanings. It isn't necessarily one of my favorite songs on the album but is catchy enough, and I appreciate it.

The sixth track is one of my favorite songs. Titled "Bacon," the song is an uptempo pop-rock track, and it demonstrates a sense of newfound freedom and independence. "The one thing I love more than being with you, and that's no ties, no drama in my life," he asserts. He declares that when he gets up in the morning, he decides to "throw some bacon" on because he is now free to do so. (Bacon is, of course, a symbol of indulgence, as it tastes good to most but is terrible for your health. I am vegetarian and consequently don't eat bacon unless it isn't real bacon, so I don't necessarily relate to the specifics of that, but I do to the overall message.) The song features vocals from Ty Dolla $ign. His part, which is really more R&B than it is rap, doesn't destroy the song since it is rather short, but it is rather unnecessary. The seventh track is titled "Good Girls" and is melodically and sonically a highlight. Lyrically, however, it is culturally problematic and controversial, as it could easily be interpreted as a patriarchal grasp on how women should behave. The chorus asks: "When did all these good girls decide to be bad, dancin' up on the table gettin' back at your dad?" If a woman is behaving in a sexually suggestive way, then it must be because she's doing it because of her father, a man. Another aspect of the song that bothers me is that it contradicts itself. Nick sings that "sexy isn't just what you see...," but then during Big Sean's part, the song says that "I just want a bad girl tonight and a good girl for life." This part simply demolishes any attempt that Nick might have been making at being socially conscious.

I don't think that Nick is a deeply sexist person (although others have argued otherwise because of his big single "Jealous"), but that song is very misguided. Nick, when he was with the Jonas Brothers and when he was with Nick Jonas and the Administration, used to demonstrate himself as completely clothed and never made sexual references in his songs. In fact, he and his two brothers wore purity rings. Once he became big as a solo artist, however, the clothes came off, and the sexual references went on. I don't think that there's anything wrong with that (for some people, that is liberating), but who is calling attention to that? He has gone "bad" himself but is only calling attention to girls who have gone "bad." We do, unfortunately, live in a world where most cultures harshly judge women for being sexual but consider it expected and even natural for men. That aside, however, it's probably time to move on from that discussion and continue discussing the album. I am quite honestly not going to spend a lot of time talking about the next two tracks, "The Difference" and "Don't Make Me Choose," because they are low points on the album and are kind of, in my opinion, throwaways. "The Difference" is a midtempo soulful pop song about responding to a woman who is resisting the way that she feels for the speaker out of fear, because of the way that she has been treated in the past. "Don't Make Me Choose" is a slow R&B track. It is lyrically a callback to "Champagne Problems," which declares that it is "better to fall in love than lose. Wish I didn't have to choose." "Don't Make Me Choose" similarly pleads that his partner not "make me choose between my love and my life."

The tenth track is titled "Under You" and is the song to which I was most looking forward. Last October, I had the pleasure of seeing Nick perform live, and he performed "Under You," teasing it as a brand new song that would be featured on his upcoming album, which, of course, ended up being Last Year Was Complicated. I loved the song when I heard it and couldn't wait for the studio version. "Under You" is an upbeat pop-rock track that might remind one of Taylor Swift's "Style," at least in its verses. The song lyrically speaks of regretting letting a lover go, and it is, of course, sexually suggestive (as is its title) in its chorus: "...I'll never get over, never get over not getting under you." It's one of my favorite songs on the album and might even be my top favorite. I also really like the eleventh track, although it's quite a deviation from "Under You." "Unhinged" is a very slow piano ballad and is lyrically heartbreaking and beautiful. The speaker sings of feeling broken and consequently being afraid of falling in love. "Every sway just breaks me a little, and I know you can't take this back and forth. It's not safe for you in the middle. When you close that door, you'll see it's unhinged; it's just like me." It's a beautiful song, one to which I can definitely relate, and I honestly think that it would have made a much better closing track to the standard version of the album than the actual closing track, "Comfortable," does.

The standard edition of Last Year Was Complicated closes with "Comfortable," which is another low point for me. It's a midtempo song with a relatively standard R&B beat. Also in the mix are synths and piano, making it fairly interesting. There is a spoken verse by Allen Iverson, which is, quite honestly, terrible. I am not even going to spend any more time talking about this one because it really is kind of a throwaway and certainly, as I said, doesn't really work as a closing track. There is fortunately a version of the album sold exclusively at Target with three extra tracks - "Testify," "When We Get Home," and "That's What They All Say." I really like "Testify," a song that is somewhat musically similar to "Under You." The chorus is really catchy, although it could potentially be that substandard deviation to which pop music often defers even when it's inappropriate, as it is a song about how great love is and how amazing that falling in love feels: "Make me want to testify... that love's too good." "When We Get Home" is a downtempo duet with Daniella Mason. This is a highlight on the album because of Nick's vocals; I love his vocals on this album, which are different than most anything that he's done before. At certain points of the song, he sings in a nasally register, which sounds really great from him. "That's What They All Say" is a much better closing track than "Comfortable." It's relatively uptempo but has the grand-scale sound of a closing track, such as when Nick's voice is multilayered and harmonized in the chorus. The song is a funky rock song about brushing off negative criticism and turning pain into music. Even the theme makes for a great closing track!

I bought the Target edition of the album for the benefit of the three extra tracks, but the international release of the album also features three additional tracks, but all three are previously released. Featured are "Chains," "Jealous," and "Levels." Although it would have been nice to have "Levels" on the album since, as far as I know, it has never been released physically, "Chains" and "Jealous" are tracks 1 and 2 on Nick Jonas, so I don't understand the purpose of including those. It would be understandable if the songs were re-recorded, but they're not. In closing, however, Last Year Was Complicated is a really great album. It isn't flawless all the way through (as it does, as I said, have a few low points), and I also wouldn't say that it's better than Nick Jonas, but it's a strong album that, in my opinion, effectively conveys the many feelings that one tends to experience alongside a broken heart. I don't mean to rag on pop music because I listen to a lot of pop music, but as I said, I don't find that it usually conveys that effectively. It is almost as if pop artists and/or record labels are afraid to release breakup albums, and I can give a perfect example of why. Not long before Gwen Stefani released This Is What the Truth Feels Like, an old friend of mine said that because of the divorce and because of the mellow album cover, he "was so afraid that it was going to be a downer." What that translated to for me was, "I was so afraid that it was going to be real instead of upbeat and lovey-dovey." Nick, however, manages to release a breakup album that effectively conveys a sense of loss and rarely breaks character, and I definitely applaud him for it!