Bon Jovi – What About Now (2013) Review

Bon Jovi won’t win any new fans with What About Now, but they may well lose a few.

The band’s twelfth studio album sounds less like a creative statement and more like a group continuing simply because that’s what they’ve done for the last thirty years — competent, familiar, and rarely rising to the standard of their best work.

In many ways, the accompanying world tour title “Because We Can” sums up the album itself.

High Points Are Hard To Find

Despite its flaws, What About Now still contains a handful of genuinely enjoyable moments.

The band’s long-established anthemic template is applied effectively to tracks like Beautiful World, What About Now, and With These Two Hands, each leaning heavily on the never-give-up lyricism that helped turn these New Jersey cowboys into global stars.

The mid-tempo rockers fare well too, with strong vocal performances driving both Amen and I’m With You

But it’s lead single That’s What The Water Made Me that truly stands above the rest. Lacking in outright heaviness but rich in melody, it recalls a time when Bon Jovi sounded inspired rather than simply comfortable. It’s among the band’s strongest lyrical efforts in years — yet the fact it emerges as such a clear standout, while still unlikely to trouble the highlights of their prime, only underlines how much the album as a whole falls short.

“All of our albums are like snapshots of the time they were made. With this one, we were coming to the end of Obama’s first term and America was recovering, financially, but lots of people were trying to piece their lives back together after a tough few years. This record tries to capture that feeling.”

– Jon Bon Jovi

Trying Hard To Capture The Moment

Lyrically, Jon Bon Jovi is caught between the artist he wants to be and the songwriter he’s always been.

It’s hardly surprising that much of What About Now’s 51-minute runtime is built around reflections on ageing, failed relationships and the uneasy feeling that the world isn’t quite what it used to be.

These have long been themes Jon Bon Jovi handles well, and the role of veteran rocker — part grizzled cowboy, part seasoned storyteller — has always suited him.

The problem is that, without the crunching riffs and guitar firepower that once gave those sentiments weight, many of the lyrics begin to sound less like hard-earned reflection and more like weary complaints.

"Why they sold old CBGBs,
I just don't understand,
All that's left now are the t-shirts,
And they come from Japan."

WHAT'S LEFT OF ME

The Departure Of Richie Sambora

Music aside, What About Now will ultimately be remembered as the final Bon Jovi album to feature Richie Sambora.

The legendary axeman famously walked out just three weeks into the Because We Can world tour, a departure that appears to have driven a permanent wedge between the lifelong friends.

The band quickly recruited Phil X to complete the tour, issuing a public statement suggesting Sambora had stepped away due to the toll their relentless schedule was taking on his family life.

Sambora, however, later disputed their version of events, claiming his exit stemmed from growing frustration with producer John Shanks’ increasing influence over Bon Jovi’s musical direction.

According to Sambora, Shanks’ glossy studio approach had stripped much of the soul from his material, and tensions reached breaking point when he arrived at the studio to record rhythm parts for new acoustic song The Fighter, only to discover they had already been recorded by Shanks in his absence.

“My value to the band was in my honesty, but on this record I felt like that honesty was no longer welcome.

We didn’t sound like Bon Jovi anymore, we sounded stale, the soul was gone.

As a leader within the group I felt it was my responsibility to call it for what it was, but I knew I was out the moment those words left my lips.”

– Richie Sambora

“My value to the band was in my honesty, but on this record I felt like that honesty was no longer welcome. We didn’t sound like Bon Jovi anymore, we sounded stale, the soul was gone. As a leader within the group I felt it was my responsibility to call it for what it was, but I knew I was out the moment those words left my lips.”

– Richie Sambora

Say It Isn’t So

In retrospect, it’s easy to understand Sambora’s frustration.

His guitar work, while not as sharp as on previous records, is further weakened by the album’s glossy pop finish, leaving little room for the grit that once defined Bon Jovi’s sound.

Producer John Shanks’ bite-less studio tinkering even manages to soften Tico Torres’ usually thunderous drums, robbing the rockers of the impact they so clearly aim for.

And if the heavier moments feel restrained, the ballads fare even worse, coming across as overly polished and saccharine rather than heartfelt or sincere.

Making matters more frustrating is the unnecessary decision to donate four new songs to a Greatest Hits collection prior to the album’s release (This Is Love, This Is Life, What Do You Got?, No Apologies, and The More Things Change). Had those tracks been held back for What About Now, they might have gone some way towards strengthening an otherwise underwhelming record.

"It's a shame when they say,
That it's been done and said,
They keep digging that grave,
Let them bury their heads."

BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Bon Jovi: What About Now

The legacy of What About Now will ultimately be defined less by its music than by the fracture it exposed within the band.

While the exiled Sambora fought to preserve the formula that had carried Bon Jovi for three decades, Jon Bon Jovi appeared increasingly determined to reshape the band’s identity, moving away from the guitar-driven sound that had long defined them.

In retrospect, the consensus suggests Sambora may have had the clearer vision — Bon Jovi simply don’t hit as hard when making a conscious effort not to sound like Bon Jovi.