Bon Jovi turns up the volume
Bon Jovi is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the release of a new album titled Forever.
The New Jersey rock band dropped the first single, Legendary, ahead of the première of the new documentary Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, a four-part docuseries that will hit Disney+ next month.
“This record is a return to joy. From the writing, through the recording process, this is turn up the volume, feel good Bon Jovi,” frontman Jon Bon Jovi, 62, said Thursday.
Forever, the band's 16th studio album, will arrive June 7 and marks the group's first release since 2020.
In addition to Jon Bon Jovi on vocals, the album will feature keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, bassist Hugh Mcdonald and guitarist Phil X, who happens to be Canadian.
The disc will continue Bon Jovi's 40th anniversary festivities, which included its lead singer being named Musicares Person of the Year at last month's Grammy Awards. The honour featured an all-star tribute concert at the Los Angeles Convention Center that boasted performances by Bruce Springsteen, Shania Twain, Melissa Etheridge, Sammy Hagar, Jason Isbell, Jelly Roll, Pat Monahan of Train and many others.
With more than 130 million albums sold worldwide, the group released its last record at the height of the pandemic and Bon Jovi told Postmedia in an interview that he wanted his namesake band to be about something more. Songs about the murder of George Floyd (American Reckoning), mass shootings (Lower the Flag) and the political divide in America (Blood in the Water) were all featured on the disc.
“What I hope people see in the album is just that I'm bearing witness,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer said. “I'm open enough in all of my senses to be able to see and then say what it is that I'm witnessing. In doing so, I don't want to take sides. I just want to bear witness the way a reporter would or a historian does. I just want to say, `This is what happened,' with no embellishments.”
Forever is now available for pre-order at bonjovi.com, where fans can find exclusive coloured vinyl options, CDS, cassettes and limited-edition signed copies.