Joe Jonas seriously considered leaking his new solo album Music for People Who Believe in Love.
After writing and recording it over a year ago, the 35-year-old artist was tired of waiting and actually called his manager to ask if he could just drop it early. “I was eager to get it out for a while there,” he told PEOPLE. “I think last year at some point, I called my manager; I was like, ‘Can I just leak the album or put it out?’ I was like, ‘I’m tired of waiting.’” He was talked out of it, and it turned out to be the right move.
The album, which dropped more than a decade after his first solo record, Fastlife (2011), came together unexpectedly fast. Joe started writing for it during a Jonas Brothers writing camp in March of last year. He didn’t even plan for it to be a solo thing at first. “We were writing for a camp for the [Jonas] Brothers. I just felt so drawn to this one song,” he said. So he asked his brothers for permission to explore it solo. “Nick’s words were like, ‘I mean, I get it. I’m jealous, but I get it’,” Joe recalled. “He’s like, ‘I didn’t write on it, so I can’t really say no.’”
With that green light, Joe kept going. He teamed up with writers Justin Trainor, Alexander 23, and Lush. The momentum didn’t slow down, they made the album in just two weeks. “We just carried on and made the album in two some weeks,” Joe said. Despite how fast they finished it, the release took over a year. It was originally set for October, but delays kept pushing it back.
Joe admits he hated the wait at first, but now he sees the upside. Holding onto the album gave him time to include tracks like “Heart by Heart,” which didn’t even exist when he originally wrapped the record. “I wouldn’t have had [that on the album] if I didn’t hold onto it. So I’m glad I waited,” he said. And it’s not just that one song.
While around 70% of the album came from that first March writing camp, there was “some fine-tuning” along the way. He also ended up adding several collaborations during the delay. “There were some features that I was able to reach out to. There are seven or eight features on the album, which is kind of wild,” he said. It’s something that never would’ve happened if he’d rushed to release it back in 2023.
Musically, Joe describes the album as genre-blending and all over the place on purpose. That’s thanks to a personal road trip he took from L.A. to Houston last year. “I got an RV and drove,” he said. “I listened to everything from country western that I grew up listening to to alternative rock stuff that I loved listening to when I moved to New York.” Those inspirations shaped the sound of the album, and Joe leaned into the diversity.
He also tried something unique in the studio, working in multiple rooms at once. Alexander 23 worked in one room creating “more synth-based and upbeat and guitar-driven” music, while Joe was in another doing “stuff that was 12-string guitars and country.” The two rooms didn’t even hear each other’s work, but Joe bounced between them, writing music in both places. “I had these two different sounds that I felt like still blended well together,” he explained.
Emotionally, the album reflects a deeper theme. “I feel like what it says, emotionally, I think it speaks to gratitude and healing,” Joe shared. “It speaks to the idea that I have a bird’s-eye view of my life, and I’m so happy for the people in my life and the friends I have and family and that I get to do this for twenty-some years.” That kind of reflection gives Music for People Who Believe in Love its name, and its heart.
Even though the album took a year to finally see the light of day, Joe’s excitement hasn’t faded. “I’m just eager,” he said. “It’s very personal to me, and I’m excited that I finally get to share it , after holding onto it for a year.” Between the impulse to leak it, the spontaneous start, and the delayed release that turned out to be a blessing, Joe’s latest solo chapter shows both his passion and patience, and it was worth every second.
