Maps of Music

What About Now (2013)

Where the lyrics of What About Now take you, and where it was really made.

Richie Sambora's last album with Bon Jovi was recorded before his own solo album was finished, and the band's cover was painted by Liu Bolin, an artist known for body painting.

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Album story

Overview

• What About Now: twelfth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi
• Produced by John Shanks
• Released 8 March 2013 in Australia, 12 March 2013 in the United States
• Promoted throughout the band's 2013 Because We Can: The Tour
• Last album to feature lead guitarist Richie Sambora before he left the band the following month

Background

• Debuted at No. 1 in the United States, selling 101,000 copies in its first week
• Third album in a row to reach No. 1 in the US, after The Circle and Lost Highway
• Fifth No. 1 album of the band's career

Recording

• Sambora said the album was recorded before his solo album Aftermath of the Lowdown was completed
• He and Jon Bon Jovi began writing, and soon they were in the studio with the band
• Music videos made for the singles "Because We Can" and the title track "What About Now"
• Jon Bon Jovi's solo single "Not Running Anymore" included as a bonus track with a music video, and nominated for a Golden Globe Award
• Sambora's single "Every Road Leads Home to You" included as a bonus track with a music video

Cover

• Artwork created by Liu Bolin, revealed on 10 January 2013, three days after the lead single "Because We Can"
• Cover shows the four band members painted behind a collage of a soldier with a guitar, bandaged hands, a woman's headshot, roses, and the band's heart and dagger symbol
• Back cover uses the same artwork with more pictures and no band members

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983.
• Jon Bon Jovi began performing live in 1975 at age 13 with his first band, Raze.
• The band was named Bon Jovi on the suggestion of Pamela Maher, following the model of two-word bands such as Van Halen.
• Its debut album Bon Jovi was released on January 21, 1984, with the single "Runaway" reaching the Billboard Hot 100 top forty.

Members

• The current lineup is Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Tico Torres, John Shanks, Phil X, Everett Bradley, and Hugh McDonald.
• Original bassist Alec John Such left in 1994; he died in 2022.
• Guitarist and co-songwriter Richie Sambora left in 2013.

Career

• Slippery When Wet (1986) brought global success, with "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer" reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• New Jersey (1988) produced five Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles, a record for a hard rock album.
• Keep the Faith (1992) marked a shift to a more mature sound.
• "Always" (1994) became the band's biggest-selling and longest-charting single.
• Crush (2000) and "It's My Life" introduced the band to a younger audience.
• "Who Says You Can't Go Home" (2006) won a Grammy and became the first rock band single to top the Billboard country chart.
• The band has sold more than 130 million records worldwide and was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan wrote that the band reached out with empowering platitudes and riffage suited to the summer stadium tour
• Daily Express's Stephen Unwin found it the closest thing to predictable from the poster boys of American rock 'n' roll
• Toronto Star's Phil Mongrendien criticized "Army of One" for descending into lyrical self-parody
• Time Out's James Manning said the band won't win any new fans with the album but are unlikely to lose many either
• Virgin Media's Ian Gittins called it a decent soft rock party album, while doubting the band's taste for clichés
• AllMusic's Stephen Erlewine noted few big hooks, with the sweetest melodies in the softer moments
• Metacritic gave an average score of 50 out of 100 from 11 reviews, meaning mixed or average reviews

Reappraisal

• Ultimate Classic Rock called it Bon Jovi's worst album, describing it as milquetoast adult-contemporary pop-rock with none of the fiery riffs of the band's heyday

Records

• Debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 with 101,000 copies sold in the first week
• Worldwide sales were reported as 644,500 in Spanish-language sources, the band's lowest-selling album up to that point
• French sources report 1.5 million copies sold worldwide and call it the band's least-sold album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was the last to feature Richie Sambora, who left the band the month after its release.
• The band's two-part cover is built around a collage that contains a soldier walking up a mountain.
• The Golden Globe nomination for "Not Running Anymore" was announced on 13 December 2012.
• "Not Running Anymore" and "Old Habits Die Hard" both appear on the soundtrack of the film Stand Up Guys.
• The French Wikipedia entry says four music videos were made for "Because We Can".

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org

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