Bon Jovi make changes to '2020' album and reveal new release date
Watch the 'Do What You Can' lyric video
Last updated 23rd Jul 2020
Bon Jovi have announced that their slightly tweaked fifteenth studio album ‘Bon Jovi 2020’ will be released on Friday 2nd October 2020.
Originally set to come out on 15th May 2020, the New Jersey rock icons previously postponed the album’s release and all their upcoming tour dates because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ultimately, the delay allowed Jon Bon Jovi and co. to react musically to the seismic global events happening in 2020, and it has changed the shape and track-listing of the album.
The song ‘American Reckoning’ was directly inspired by the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, while ‘Do What You Can’ is a response the COVID-19 crisis. Both are new additions to the record.
“I am a witness to history,” explains Jon Bon Jovi. “I believe the greatest gift of an artist is the ability to use their voice to speak to issues that move us.”
‘Do What You Can’ takes its title from an Instagram post Jon Bon Jovi shared during lockdown. It pictured Jon washing dishes in his JBJ Soul Kitchen Community Restaurant in Red Bank, NJ, which has been serving takeout meals to those in need during the pandemic. He captioned the post: “If You Can’t Do What You Do… Do What You Can.”
Soon after that, Jon Bon Jovi penned the music and chorus for ‘Do What You Can’ and called on fans to suggest words for the verse using the hashtag #DoWhatYouCan.
Following thousands of submissions, the final acoustic song was first performed by Jon Bon Jovi during the Jersey4Jersey benefit special in April, and today Bon Jovi have now premiered the full studio version. Check it out below.
Bon Jovi ‘Do What You Can’ lyric video:
The follow-up to 2016’s ‘This House Is Not for Sale’, ‘Bon Jovi 2020’ also features the singles ‘Limitless’ and ‘Unbroken’.
Differing to the original ‘Bon Jovi 2020’ track-listing that was unveiled at the start of the year, ‘Luv Can’ and ‘Shine’ will now no longer appear on the album.
The new track-listing for ‘Bon Jovi 2020’, including the songwriters, is as follows:
1) Limitless (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon, John Shanks)
2) Do What You Can (Jon Bon Jovi)
3) American Reckoning (Jon Bon Jovi)
4) Beautiful Drug (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon, John Shanks)
5) Story of Love (Jon Bon Jovi)
6) Let It Rain (Jon Bon Jovi)
7) Lower the Flag (Jon Bon Jovi)
8) Blood in the Water (Jon Bon Jovi)
9) Brothers in Arms (Jon Bon Jovi)
10) Unbroken (Jon Bon Jovi)