Album Review: Joe Jonas - "Music for People Who Believe In Love"

Music for People Who Believe In Love, Joe Jonas' new solo effort, is commendable, admirable, and pleasant on the ears. It isn't as profound or impressive as other pop stars who've made similar left turns, but it's something one can appreciate for sure.

Republic - 2025

The pop rock boy band Jonas Brothers have been a tour de force ever since they've returned from their hiatus in 2019. The once Disney-ified trio of brothers each have their own personalities and styles and some have had solo and side projects during their initial and post hiatus runs. Nick Jonas has his solo career and a brief run with his band The Administration, while Kevin continues to be a father and work as a songwriter and producer. Joe Jonas, the third member, has been quite a busy guy since the band has reunited. New records, live shows, acting gigs, etc., etc. He even had a run leading the side project DNCE, where hit single "Cake By the Ocean" is still being played on TJ Maxx speakers to this day. That song still slaps if I'm being honest and I'm not at all afraid to state this genuine fact. To my surprise, Joe hasn't released a solo effort since 2011 with Fastlife. All I remember from that record was that Lil Wayne was featured on a cut, which was whack and I'm sure that wasn't an awkward pairing at all.

Anyways, Joe Jonas is back with a new studio solo album. Optimistically titled Music for People Who Believe In Love, Joe Jonas is not the same teen bopper he was back in 2011. He's a father, matured adult, and recently has publicly been through a messy divorce with actress Sophie Turner. So even before listening to Music for People, I was pretty interested in listening to this thing, primarily because it seems like a different sonic avenue for Joe, let alone one from any Jonas brother. There's an intriguingly indie and alternative pop aesthetic all over the album rollout, artwork, marketing, and sonic palette of this record. When listening to singles like "Work It Out" prior to the album's release, I was pretty curious by the glossy indie pop and folk guitar flare matched with Joe's proper, honey coated voice. It's a pretty good pop song and notably is one of the album's best and most endearing moments about making up with his brothers (and presumably not about his prior marriage).

When listening to this album, it definitely feels like Joe is enjoying this new direction and there's a playfulness and curiosity to it that I really appreciate. There's a sunny, light, airy, and glossy sheen to this record that is neat. I commend the album's various influences and styles of garage rock, alternative pop, folk and country. I am also impressed by the many collaborative choices with different artists, producers, and songwriters, ranging from Domi and JD Beck to his younger brother Frankie to even Feist as a cowriter on the track "What This Could Be." Yes, Feist! Joe definitely seems to be freely making the music he wants to make while also trying different things and is not afraid to do so. As a result, Music for People is a nice and pleasant listen that would successfully soundtrack your afternoon Summer drives and backyard pool parties. It's inoffensive, breezy, and pleasing with its overall vibe and presentation. This isn't necessarily a bad thing overall for a pop album by a major artist, but I would've loved this to be way more risk taking and more personality driven.

Joe's obviously swinging for vibes of records like Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour (I mean, just look at the album art), especially with songs like "Honey Blonde," which is executed quite smoothly with its folksy guitar and slick vocal delivery and harmonies. Joe is also obviously pulling from The Strokes' Julian Casablancas hard on the tracks "Parachute," "Only Love," "Velvet Sunshine," and "Sip Your Wine." The comparisons are so obvious and inescapable, that if these tracks were playing in the background at a Cheddar's, I would've thought they were from a Strokes cover band (even my chicken tenders would've easily been fooled). These influences are blatant and distractingly so, which ultimately take away from the album a bit. That aside, the majority of these songs that contain ripped influences are pleasant, with the Frankie Jonas assisting "Velvet Sunshine" being a bright highlight. "Only Love" is really the only one that I would call obnoxious, whose leather jacket wearing swagger is borderline parody. "Woven" is a strange introduction to the record as a quirky jazz passage from Domi and JD Beck. It's pretty cool and unexpectedly weird, but I do wish more of these neat ideas on this song would've been fully flashed out into a proper song. "Heart by Heart" is a solid and strong pop single that would've been pretty successful on late 80's pop radio with its bright harmonies and light pillowy synths.

"My Own Best Friend" has some twang to its guitars and it's a sweetly sung ballad and I could see it swooning some hardcore fans. "Hey Beautiful" has some of the better vocal harmonies on the record, assisted by folk group Tiny Habits. Its acoustic intimacy and rawness is definitely a refreshing moment in the track listing. "What We Are" is a very pretty and smooth bossa nova track featuring vocals from Luísa Sonza, making it another highlight and refreshing sonic and stylistic detour. Joe's vocals really pop on a song like this. "You Got the Right" is put together, but its presentation is sickly sweet and repetitive, reeking of Ed Sheeran vibes. "What This Could Be" is a pretty straightforward synth driven ballad, one that's expectedly background. "Constellation" disappointingly closes the album on a low note with a grand, epic presentation that just sounds like a bland, grating Christian arena rock song from a collective like Hillsong.

The songwriting on Music for People is pretty standard and typical for someone like Joe Jonas. It's about love, mending relationships, happiness and gratitude but this is not really a record I would go to for truly profound songwriting. I won't dissect the songwriting here. That's for you to decide if you want to go on Genius to look into the lyrics if Joe means this or that about his recent divorce. I don't really care about that. The production and sonic palette on the other hand is what I am more intrigued about. It's a pretty fun and refreshingly vibrant record that flirts with versatility and that's impressive, especially for a solo album by a Jonas brother. Aside from a few nauseating clunkers, Music for People Who Believe In Love is commendable, admirable, and pleasant on the ears. It isn't as profound or impressive as other pop stars who've made similar left turns, but it's something one can appreciate for sure. If he really wants to make a truly unique and thought provoking record, Joe should push farther and try harder to break the mold a little. With more effort, I honestly believe he could. He's definitely on the right path.

My Rating: 6 / 10

Favorite Songs: "Work It Out," "Honey Blonde," "Velvet Sunshine," "What We Are," "Heart by Heart," "Hey Beautiful"