Nick Jonas, Last Year Was Complicated | Lyrical Analysis

What better way to examine the latest Nick Jonas album, Last Year Was Complicated, than analyzing the ‘profound’ lyrical content?

Little Nick Jonas ain’t so little no more. Who hasn’t seen this or this by now? Besides being a fully grown, BUFF guy, Jonas’ lyrical content no longer centers around child’s play.  Don’t get it twisted – it centers around play. What kind of play if it’s not child’s play? Adult play…What better way to examine Jonas’ Last Year Was Complicated than by the set’s ‘profound’ lyrical content?

1. “If this is what you’re calling love / I swear I’m better alone / I feel ya claws sinkin’ in / gettin’ under my skin like // Voodoo”

– “Voodoo”

Commentary: Basically, this girl has got Nick J feeling “some sort of way.” He’s exaggerating it, but he likens the effect to that of Voodoo.

2) “You got me too attached, keep me comin’ right back / and I know that I ain’t f*ckin’ with your voodoo”

– “Voodoo”

Commentary:  Again, Nick is trying his best to avoid this girl because of the power she has over him.  It’s interesting that f*ckin’ was used considering it has a double meaning contextually.

3) “How many times have we been here before? / How many pieces have to break? / So many reasons not to celebrate / but I hate to see you cry, so let’s drink before goodbye / I got a bottle I been saving up”

– “Champagne Problems”

Commentary: In celebration of the breakup, Nick and his ex- decide to toast. Cue up Justin Timberlake’s “Drink You Away” right about now.

4) “Oh damn, oh damn, oh damn / I’m so perplexed / with just one breath, I’m locked in”

– “Close”

Commentary: Damn, this girl has got Nick “hot and bothered.”

5) “Cause if I want you, then I want you, babe / ain’t going backwards, won’t ask for space / cause space is just a word made up by someone who’s afraid to get too // close”

– “Close”

Commentary: Yeah, Nick is totally twitterpated. To cut to the chase, “it’s going down” later on, like “meet in the bed / it’s going down” that is!

6) “Maybe I’ll just take a chainsaw to the sofa / where I held your body close for so long, so long / I’m gonna break the f*cking china / cause it’s just one more reminder you’re gone, you’re gone”

– “Chainsaw” 

Commentary: Most of the time we hear about a scorned woman but in this case, Nick is a scorned man who feels the need to destroy everything that reminds him of their former love.

7) “I go from touchin’ you with both hands / to touchin’ you with no hands…/ that’s my favorite way of touchin’ you”

– “Touch”

Commentary: One word: SEX!!! Thanks Lenny Kravitz!

8) “Pretty mind, silk thoughts / start a fire when you turn the lights off / oh my, my God / when he made you, he did a fine job”

– “Bacon”

Commentary: Much like the featured quote from “Touch,” this excerpt from “Bacon” is about “the do” or rather “making it do.” 

9) “Late nights, doing what I wanna do / I got sleep eyes; I woke up like this / feelin’ like, aw shit, throw some bacon on it / one thing I love more than being with you / and that’s no ties, no drama in my life / yeah I, woke up like this / feelin’ like, aw shit, throw some bacon on it / one thing I love more than being with you”

– “Bacon”

Commentary: To quote Mary J. Blige, even though  “the sex was good, you had my mind,” Nick seems to like his freedom sans the BS.  He also seems to like bacon, but then again, who doesn’t? “Aw shit, throw some bacon on it!”

10) “When did all these good girls decide to be bad? / Dancin’ up on the table, gettin’ back at your dad / who’s the asshole that told you that’s what you had to do?”

– “Good Girls”

Commentary: Nick wants to know what happened to genuine, moral, and perhaps more angelic girls? Of course to hear 5 Seconds of Summer tell it, “good girls are bad girls that’ haven’t been caught…”

11) “Cause you’re way too uptight / you keep it on the low, but you know your body wants mine / why you tryna go, when you know I’ll never waste your time / if you don’t feel the difference when you walk away / well you’re gonna learn today”

– “The Difference”

Commentary: Here’s what Nick is saying to this girl: when I put it on you, you’ll keep coming back for more.  Yep, he’s spitting game.

12) “I was so foolish, on some stupid shit / should have never let you out, no, no / knowing that you left messes with my head / shadows of you haunt me now”

– “Under You”

Commentary: “Voodoo,” part II.  

13) “Who are you catering to? / Who you f*cking with when there ain’t nobody f*cking with you? / I told you I knew you before you even knew that you were you / yeah I know you better than that, I know you better”

– “Comfortable”

Commentary:  Apparently, Nick knows her “Better than she knows herself.”

Nick Jonas • Last Year Was Complicated • Island • Release Date: 6.10.16

Photo Credit: Island