Photo: Getty Images North America
Bon Jovi fans were treated to a first-listen of several songs from the band's new album Forever (Legendary Edition) during the exclusive iHeartRadio Album Preview before the album's official release. During the event, Jon Bon Jovi previewed several of the songs on Forever (Legendary Edition), as well as talk about the album and more during an exclusive interview with iHeartRadio's Valentine.
Fans got hear songs from Forever (Legendary Edition) before anyone else on iHeartRadio including "Hollow Man" with Bruce Springsteen, "Living Proof" with Jelly Roll, "Red White and Jersey, "Living in Paradise" with Avril Lavigne, and "Seeds" with Ryan Tedder.
Speaking about why the band decided to do a re-record of 2024's Legendary instead of putting together a brand new album, "Well, when we put out this album, Forever, a year ago, and it was accompanied by the documentary, Thank You, Goodnight. The intention was to go out on the road, celebrate our 40th anniversary, and it was a rather joyous record that we really felt great about. But in lieu of what had happened with my vocal surgery and the rehab, I really just wasn't ready to go on the road. And in this day and age, it's changed. If you don't support a record with live shows, and at least television, the record just doesn't get a chance. And then to come out of all of the COVID pain and misery that we were all walking through together, I thought in this day and age of people doing these features, if I could call a bunch of our friends and ask folks to sing on these songs, we would write something new to accompany it and just show that my voice is healed, and then get friends to come and reintroduce a great album. And so we called old friends, new friends, country, rock, international, men, women. So it's a diverse record."
Photo: Getty Images North America
One of the songs on the record is "Hollow Man," a collaboration with Bruce Springsteen, and Bon Jovi recalled of how The Boss ended up on the song, "When you get a call from the premier American songwriter and Bruce Springsteen saying, 'Johnny, that song,' and you go, 'Whoa, I've written one here.' So then I reminded him a year later, remember that time you called me and told me how much you love the song? That's the one I want you to sing."
Jon also talked about another collaboration on the album with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder "Seeds," which Tedder helped write. The song pays tribute to The Beatles and George Martin, and Bon Jovi shared of the new version of the track, "[Ryan] actually co-wrote this song with me, and at the end I had so much fun because of the homage to The Beatles and George Martin string arrangement. A unique song, an album track, but a great story that we are all, in fact, seeds trying to find our place in the weeds. Are we going to go up to be roses or weeds? And so I was fortunate enough to co-write it with Ryan, so he was the evident and obvious choice to sing on it. And then we had a lot of fun getting David Campbell, who happens to be Beck's father, to do the string arrangement. And many people wouldn't know that unless you're in the record business. But he has done strings on a whole lot of rock records, many of ours as well. And so to get David Campbell back into the fold and say, go full George, let's go full George on this. So it's a wonderful album track and one I'm very proud of the lyrics, and a feature vocalist is Ryan Tedder and also the collaborator."
Bon Jovi just announced that they are taking their music on the road on their 2026 "Forever Tour," which includes four dates at New York City's iconic Madison Square Garden. In a statement on social media, Jon explained, "There is a lot of joy in this announcement – joy that we can share these nights together with our amazing fans and joy that the band can be together. I am lucky enough to be able to hold a light out to the audience each night and stand in their reflection for a tremendous collective experience – I get to stand in the WE of our concerts. And I’ve spoken extensively on my gratitude but I will say it again, I’m deeply grateful that the fans and the brotherhood of this band have been patient and allowed me the time needed to get healthy and prepare for touring." He added while speaking to Valentine, "I've always wanted people to come to us instead of me going there. So that's the idea."
Check out Bon Jovi's full interview from his exclusive iHeartRadio Album Preview below.