Singers Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas keeping it real on joint summer tour
BOSTON — Eight years ago, few might have predicted that the freshfaced stars of the hit Disney Channel musical “Camp Rock” would go on to freely discuss sex in their work, become outspoken proponents for the LGBT community and, this year, mount a joint tour inspired by Bruce Springsteen.
But the Boss is just who Nick Jonas said he and Demi Lovato had in mind when they conceived their relatively stripped-down road show, “Future Now,” which launched in June and stopped in Orlando last month.
Specifically, Jonas explained, it was Springsteen’s run of concerts last spring at the Los Angeles Sports Arena that made this former tween idol want to turn away from the pop pageantry with which he’d made his name as part of the Jonas Brothers.
“I left that Springsteen show and was like, ‘We’ve got to think like this,’ ” he said, before a recent date at Boston’s TD Garden.
“Just to go onstage, no theatrics, and pour your heart and soul into the music, that’s what we wanted,” Lovato added.
But if it’s true, as Jonas said, that the pop world “is pretty oversaturated these days,” packed with high-tech arena spectacles from Beyonce, Justin Bieber and Madonna, then this production, with its emphasis on live vocals backed by a muscular band, does feel like a different animal. These are edited excerpts from our talk.
Q: Do you think about the effect a specific act might have? “If I post X on Instagram, then Y will happen.”
Jonas: Of course. When I was younger, that used to really shake me. I was kind of living in fear.
Q: Fear of what?
Jonas: Disappointing people. I didn’t ask to become a role model, but it was thrust upon all of us, regardless of whether you acknowledge it. You have to come to a decision as an adult and say, “I’ve got to live my life.” There’s nothing wrong with thinking ahead and being aware of how it might affect somebody. But these aren’t things you can let consume your life.
Q: You’ve both been outspoken about gay rights.
Lovato: I grew up in the South, where there’s discrimination, and when I witnessed the judgment around me, I always thought someone needs to stick up for not just the LGBT community but any outsider, anybody that wasn’t the mold in Texas.
Q: You had to have known “Cool for the
Summer” would elicit a reaction.
Lovato: I had an experience that I wanted to write about. There was no X-Y other than, “OK, I’m finally singing about sex.” It really was coming from wanting to be more honest with my music and also maybe giving more insight into why I’m so passionate about the LGBT community.
Q: Nick, you play a gay MMA fighter on the TV show “Kingdom.”
Jonas: It’s a tough story to tell, and I think there’s a responsibility as someone representing the LGBT community to do what I can to show support.
Q: Is it tricky to represent that community from outside?
Jonas: As a heterosexual male, I’ve gotten some criticism. But you’ve got to block out the noise to hear the change.
“Just to go onstage, no theatrics, and pour your heart and soul into the music, that’s what we wanted.” — Demi Lovato, on her concert tour with Nick Jonas