If Joe Jonas could have any superpower in the world, it wouldn’t be the ability to fly or teleport anywhere he wanted or time travel. He wouldn’t even want to have superhuman speed or lasers that shoot out of his eyes. In the first verse on his first official solo single, “Work It Out,” the singer opts for invisibility. During the latest episode of Rolling Stone’s The Breakdown, Jonas reveals the light and dark sides of that power — one that could be used for pranking his close friends or for escaping from a world he doesn’t always feel like he knows how to navigate.
“The truth about that lyric is it’s probably the heaviest lyric of the song, because it’s talking about feeling like you don’t know where you belong,” he explains, whether it be on a particular continent or time in history. “You’re almost questioning your sanity. But I think all of us can feel overwhelmed and stressed, and even an hour or two later, you’re like, II’ve got to handle this myself and deal with it and grow.’ The view of mental health has changed a lot over time, and especially music industry. It’s also so nice to talk about our feelings and not feel like you have to sugarcoat them or it’s embarrassing.”
Jonas made “Work It Out” with a crew of close friends, including Blush and Jason Evigan. The song came together quickly — within about an hour, by his estimate. “It really flowed easier than most songs, actually, even to mixing it and producing it,” Evigan shares on The Breakdown. “There was something very easy about.” Part of that ease was that they were able to jump straight to the root of the song — they were also slightly hopped up on caffeine.
Jonas likened the record’s thematic context to that of his personal journal, in which he often works out the best way forward when faced with internal and external conflicts. “I have this little yellow notebook I bring everywhere with me, and the first line of it says, ‘Even if.’ Even if things can be really overwhelming or stressful, it’s like, I’ll be okay. It’ll be okay, or I’ll figure it out, whatever that version of figuring it out looks like for myself,” he explains. “So I wanted to write something that was honestly just speaking in third person of like, ‘Hey, look in the mirror. You got this.’”
“Work It Out” marks the first release from Jonas’ forthcoming solo album, Music for People Who Believe in Love, out Oct. 18. As one-third of Jonas Brothers, the musician has previously branched out on his own with his side project DNCE, but the new record marks the first under his own name and built solely around his own experiences. “I think a lot of the songs, even on my album, are emotional and sometimes heavy,” he says. “But then there are tunes on there that are also like this where, sonically, I think it’s upbeat and fun, and when you’re dissecting the lyrics, hopefully you’ll realize, okay, we’re talking about some real stuff, and it’s okay to do it in a lighthearted way.”
