★★★★☆
After releasing his first solo album that was very different from his Jonas Brother’s days and better than expected, his new album, Last Year Was Complicated is even better. This is a sexy, falsetto filled album that covers almost every emotion you go through in a break-up; anger, confusion, missing them, and feeling better about not being in the relationship anymore. With the release of Last Year Was Complicated, there’s no doubt at all that Nick Jonas has left his cute Jonas Brothers days far, far behind him. The album starts out with ‘Voodoo’, a song about being under the spell of a girl. Along with the middle eastern-esque sound, it resembles Timbaland a little as well. One of the best songs on the album, ‘Comfortable’ has some chill, 90s house vibes. ‘Under You’ is another great song from the album, although it does sound very similar to ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift (the queen of break-up albums). Despite the similarities, Nick Jonas still makes the song sound different enough to make it completely his own and fit the sexed up, R&B sound found through his album. The ballad of Last Year Was Complicated, ‘Unhinged’ lays his insecurities out, showing the battle he has with wanting to be with someone but being afraid of being with them for the rest of their lives. ‘Bacon’ was probably the most surprising one, not because it was extraordinarily incredible, but because of the name. The song (thankfully) wasn’t solely about bacon, and it wasn’t making an innuendo out of bacon. It was just about things that are better than being in a relationship, late nights, doing what you want, no drama, and to make all that better, bacon- because everything is better with bacon. ‘Good Girls’ is probably one of the catchiest songs on the album, however it is a bit like Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ where he questions why girls who had never previously ‘danced on tables’ have suddenly ‘decided to be bad.’ He aslo takes the blame for men as they’re the ones who ask for it, and says that he himself doesn’t just want a pretty girl. ‘Chainsaw’ is another of the top songs from
the album. This one shows his sad side of the break-up, saying that he’ll ‘take a chainsaw to the sofa where I held your body close for so long’ as well as setting fire to the mattress, breaking the China, and destroying anything else that reminds him of his ex.