2020 is the fifteenth studio album by Bon Jovi. The album was initially set for release on May 15, 2020 through Island Records , but was later pushed back to October 2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, the band said the album would delve into “tough topics such as gun control, veterans’ issues, politics, the meaning of family, and much more,”.
Needless to say, I was intrigued at the prospect at Bon Jovi releasing a social conscious record. While the band knows its way around a catchy hook and fist pumping anthems, they haven’t made a contemplative collection of songs since 1995s These Days. For better or worse Bon Jovi are hit makers. So, 2020 will never be artful enough to be poetic or as politically conscious as the record company would like us to believe.
While the bands latest release does contain songs that deal with the issues of today. For the most part 2020 continues the bands brand of radio friendly country pop anthems that have been prevalent since 2007s country music infused Lost Highway.
Don’t get me wrong this is still a solid album. Tracks like the uplifting album opener; Limitless, the bluesy; Brothers In Arms, the pop rocker; Beautiful Drug and the Springsteen-esque/George Floyd killing-inspired American Reckoning ranks as some of the bands most inspired tracks in years.
The bottom line is that Bon Jovi's latest release is in no way a masterpiece, but it is far from being a clunker. That Bon Jovi can still release a solid set of songs of peace, hope, and longing for resolution after all these years is perhaps what we all need to get through this challenging time.
