ICYMI: Joe Jonas Reflects on Fastlife

Image credit: MTV

Fastlife could, and should have been a landmark moment for Danja as a producer. At the time of its release, the Jonas Brothers were one of the hottest phenomena in youth music. Therefore, it stood to reason that Joe Jonas could leverage the exposure he had earned during his time in the group into a successful solo effort.

Danja went through a sonic evolution in the process of making Fastlife. Though the five tracks he provided were arguably his finest ensemble since 2008's Street Power 2, the hard work did not quite pay off at retail. Fastlife debuted at 15 on the Billboard 200, and fell from there (I bought the album, by the way).

After an upset like that, it's not uncommon for the artist to blame the producers, their label, or the process by which the songs came about. It's happened to Danja before (see Duran Duran). Earlier this month, Joe Jonas wrote an introspective op-ed for Vulture entitled "Joe Jonas: My Life As a Jonas Brother," in which he writes about his solo career, Fastlife, and Danja:

... So in 2010, around the time that Nick was doing his side project, Nick Jonas & the Administration, I decided to take some time on my own to experiment and go in a new direction. And it happened organically. I was creating music, which turned into recording music on my own, which turned into thinking about what it would feel like to perform those songs onstage. 

One of my biggest career disappointments happened a few years ago, when I made a solo album that never saw the light of day. I recorded more than a dozen songs with a guy named Robert Schwartzman, who’s the lead singer of Rooney, and the album was kind of Hall & Oates–y. Had a Freddie Mercury vibe (he’s one of my biggest influences). I handed the songs in, and Hollywood Records was like, “This doesn’t work.” They said the songs were too weird and sounded like demos. The record company wanted me to use a team of Disney hit-makers—the people who wrote with Selena Gomez and Miley a couple of years ago. But it felt so fake to me. I called my manager and said, “I really want to slam my head into a wall right now.” 

We reached out to some of the biggest producers in the business, Rob Knox and Danja, for the solo album that actually got released, called Fastlife. There was a track with Lil Wayne on which he said the word bitch, and when I heard the album was going to have a parental-advisory label because of it, half of me was thinking, Sweet! People are going to think I’m a bad­ass. The other half thought, That’s going to alienate a lot of fans in Middle America. I’m not saying that’s the sole reason why the album ultimately didn’t do as well as my previous records had. But I think there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and I think it was rushed, and I couldn’t speak up because I was scared to. They wanted me to be this Justin Timberlake clone. Even one of the heads of Hollywood Records said, “He’s the new Justin Timberlake!”

Keep in mind that Joe Jonas was present at Danja's 30th birthday celebration. So, it doesn't seem there's any animosity between him and Danja, and it doesn't appear that he absolutely hates Fastlife, either. Thank goodness. However, working with individuals who previously worked very intimately with Justin Timberlake perhaps wasn't the best career move for Joe, especially when you consider how pleased he sounded about his shelved project.

Joe Jonas has since left Hollywood Records, the mill for Disney artists that stunts their growth once they reach their 20s. His former labelmate Jesse McCartney, whose shelved 2011 LP Have It All featured a Danja production, has since gone on to release a new and intriguing EP (In Technicolor, Part 1), so hopefully better days are on the horizon for the Jonas brother in the middle.