Break’s over! DNCE is officially back after four years on hiatus, and singer Joe Jonas opened up about their big comeback.
The 32-year-old first announced new music from DNCE on Monday, February 7. “Ready for more @dnce? 😈 So excited to start sharing the new stuff we’ve been working on including #DancingFeet with @kygomusic!!” he shared via Instagram.
The Righteous Gemstones actor later revealed that not all of the original members are returning. “While I was in the Jonas Brothers again, I put a pause on all things DNCE, with the support of my fellow bandmates,” he told Rolling Stone in an interview published Monday. “So it became this thing where we all went and did our own thing and started to look at what else we wanted to do.”
While Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless and guitarist JinJoo Lee are all back, bassist Cole Whittle is sitting this stint out. The “Sucker” singer said he’s “really supportive” of Whittle, and he sees the DNCE lineup as ever-evolving, likening them to Bruce Springsteen’s iconic E Street Band.
Since the band’s last single, “Dance,” was released in 2018, Jonas has gone through some major life changes. He married Sophie Turner in May 2019, and the Game of Thrones actress, 25, gave birth to their daughter, Willa, in July 2020.
The message behind DNCE’s music, however, remains the same. The former Disney Channel star hopes that the new tunes uplift listeners, especially their first single, “Dancing Feet.”
“It’s really happy. It’s that feeling of not really giving a fuck and enjoying life to the fullest,” he says of the single. “I think what DNCE always did so well was bring joy to people, which is what I wanted to do with this new batch of music. Obviously it’s still very tricky times, but it reminds us all of being able to go out there and dance and enjoy life.”
The track features EDM producer Kygo, one of many famous faces who helped with the new album, which includes tracks cowritten by Ryan Tedder and Mikky Ekko.
The return of DNCE means that the Jonas Brothers are on pause again, but the singer said this break is different.
“In the past with the Jonas Brothers, I used to carry a lot of trauma when new projects would present themselves because you could only focus on one thing at a time,” he added.
With the brothers in a better place, as shown in their documentary Chasing Happiness, the eldest sibling can rest easy knowing his family are all happily focusing on their personal projects. Kevin Jonas and wife Danielle are promoting their picture book There’s a Rock Concert in My Bedroom, due out March 29. Meanwhile, Nick Jonas is a new dad, having welcomed a baby via surrogate with wife Priyanka Chopra Jonas in January.
