Greetings from Your Hometown

The seventh studio album from the Jonas Brothers arrives 20 years after they hunkered down to write the debut that served as a launchpad, rocketing them to teenage superstardom (<i>It’s About Time</i>, released in 2006), and it would seem the anniversary has them feeling nostalgic. Cue <i>Greetings from Your Hometown</i>, a mostly upbeat affair that strikes a delicate balance between past regret and future promise. Sandwiching the emotional core of the album between two surefire crowd-pleasers—galvanizing pop-rock anthem “I Can’t Lose” and the soft future-bass touch of Marshmello collaboration “Slow Motion”—the brothers Jonas nosedive into rumination before pulling up in a passionate glide through the boundlessness of romance. “Backwards” meanders around heartbreak, giving way to the minimalist production of self-aware lament “Loved You Better” and the title track’s sunny hopes for a brand-new start, forming a triptych of love and loss. Elsewhere, “Waste No Time” benefits from producer Ryan Tedder’s taste for suggestive rhythms and a quirky earworm melody, while “Heat of the Moment” and “Bully” borrow from alt-pop band MUNA’s dreamy pastel-colored palette (guitarist Josette Maskin is credited as a co-writer). Stripped to the bones, <i>Greetings from Your Hometown</i> holds the same heartfelt charm that first captivated Jonas Brothers fans and made them into household names, but the album’s glossy finish reflects the experienced artists they have become more than the wide-eyed young men they once were. Still, sometimes it takes a return to your roots to understand how much you’ve grown.