Last Year Was Complicated is Nick Jonas' third studio album that was released on June 10, 2016 by Island Records and Safehouse Records.
Tracklisting[]
- Voodoo 3:10
- Champagne Problems 3:12
- Close (featuring Tove Lo) 3:54
- Chainsaw 3:19
- Touch 3:02
- Bacon (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) 3:02
- Good Girls (featuring Big Sean) 3:56
- The Difference 3:41
- Don't Make Me Choose 3:35
- Under You 3:17
- Unhinged 3:52
- Comfortable 4:34
- Testify 3:15
- When We Get Home (featuring Daniella Mason) 3:04
- That's What They All Say 3:03
Album Background[]
On August 5, 2015, Nick Jonas debuted and performed a new song, "Under You", at the iHeartRadio Music Summit.
In February 2016, he covered the February/March 2016 edition of Complex magazine he mentioned the songs "Chainsaw" and "Don't Make Me Choose", and also revealed a surprising collaboration with Purity Ring’s Corin Roddick.
During that same month, it was revealed that singer Ty Dolla $ign had a feature on the record and that there was also a female singer on the record which name he didn't reveal. Jonas also revealed that he worked again with Jason Evigan and Sir Nolan.
On March 24, 2016, Jonas announced the album's title, release date and tracklist through a series of tweets.
He revealed that work on the album took him a year and a half, tweeting: "Shit is too real sometimes... Reliving some of these real life experiences through this music is hard."
During a radio interview with Carson Daly, Jonas noted that the album was supposed to be named "Unhinged" (like the song on the record); however, after a conversation with rapper Jay-Z, Jonas changed the title to "Last Year Was Complicated."
Chart Performance[]
"Last Year Was Complicated" debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 66,000 units.
Critical Reception[]
"Last Year Was Complicated" received positive reviews from music critics.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic claimed that the album "feels assured in a way its eponymous 2014 predecessor did not," noting that "the entirety of 'Last Year Was Complicated' walks a fine line between immaculately produced pop confection and personal confession: it may not be heartbreaking but it feels as if it comes from the heart."
In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Nolan Feeney declared that it "grows into the neon pop-R&B sound of 2014’s Nick Jonas while adopting a show-don’t-tell approach to maturity on [its] songs."
Keith Harris wrote for Rolling Stone that Jonas is "personable and versatile" on the record, while praising his "supple falsetto" for "sounding wounded or seductive as required, allows him to stake out his own patch of territory on the border between pop and R&B."
Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine noted that despite the break-up themes, "'Last Year Was Complicated' offers an even more vibrant collection of colorful, propulsive beats than 'Nick Jonas' did." However, he observed that "as a singer, Jonas isn't always willing to evolve with his music."
Harriet Gibsone of The Guardian highlighted that "There are many quirks to this glossy, compelling record, but [...] it’s not savvy or strange enough to stand out."