Kevin Jonas says the group was listening to a lot of Frank Ocean, Miguel while writing the album: "It really adapted to the way we were thinking and where we were at"
The Jonas Brothers' forthcoming fifth studio album is "completely finished" and will "represent who we are and where we're at now," according to Kevin Jonas.
The trio's guitar-playing elder brother tells Billboard that the as-yet-untitled and unscheduled effort -- which will be the Jonas's first since "Lines, Vines and Trying Time" in 2009 and first since splitting from Hollywood Records in 2012 -- taps a number of different sources than he and siblings Nick and Joe have explored before.
"In the past we used influences that inspired us -- the Beatles, the Jackson 5, things like that," Kevin explains. "This time around we used influences that were happening for us now, new music, things that were getting us inspired to get in the studio and write. We really listen to a lot of Frank Ocean, Miguel, Calvin Harris, artists that were doing something unique in the moment we were writing this album. It really adapted to the way we were thinking and where we were at. We were just trying to be who we were and who we are, and I think that (music) really helped."
Kevin says the album should "definitely" come out in the fall but had a tough start around February of 2009. "We got in the studio and we started writing and it didn't feel right. It was like, 'Ugh, it's not happening yet,' " he recalls. "So we took some time off. We were able to say, 'OK, this isn't right for us yet,' and that was fine."
The brothers reconvened around June of 2012 and their current single, "First Time," was one of the first to surface.
"We came back together and wrote that song and then everything changed," Kevin says. "We were like, 'Right now we know what we're looking to do. Things are a little bit different' and the focus, the album, all of it changed and it really triggered some forward progress."
The group, which wrote 50-60 songs for the set, has released a previous single, "Pom Poms," and has also played new songs such as "Meet You In Paris," "Let's Go" and "Wedding Bells" in its live shows. The latter, Kevin says, is not about his marriage to Danielle -- his co-star in the E! reality series "Married To Jonas" -- but still hits close to home.
"It's a thinker," Kevin explains. "If you know our past at all, know my brothers' past, especially, it was a very honest song in the moment. You have to write what you're feeling. It doesn't mean you're always gonna feel that way; just like anything in life, it's just at that moment you're feeling a certain way so you write it, and definitely thinks change."
The trio kicked off the North American leg of its Jonas Brothers Live Tour on July 3 in Orlando, with a show Kevin describes as "a big Jonas production as always, but in a different way. We're rally gonna focus on the music and the aesthetic and the feel. It'll be much more of a party than things were, even in the past."
And the trek is giving Kevin a break from the E! cameras for awhile. "They are not filming right now; we actually wrapped the second season, so we're gonna have to see what happens with the next phase," he notes. "It's been a lot of fun. It's been very encouraging that we've been able to do a show like that. WE didn't know how it was going to be right away, but it's been great and we've had a great time doing it. We'll see how long this season of our lives lasts."
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