Fastlife is the debut solo studio album by American recording artist Joe Jonas. The album was released on October 11, 2011, through Hollywood Records. Fastlife serves as Jonas' first album outside of his band Jonas Brothers, which went on hiatus one year prior to its release. Jonas hoped to create a more mature and "electric" sound for the album, a contrast from the pop-rock releases with his band. To achieve this goal, Jonas worked with a range of urban producers such as Danja and Chris Brown, among others. Fastlife lyrically speaks of topics such as love, sex, and breakups. Jonas received co-writer credits for seven songs on the album.
Fastlife received a generally mixed reception from music critics, with the record's production and lyrical themes receiving praise. Along with the album's mixed reviews, the project failed to achieve the commercial success Jonas had seen with his band. Fastlife sold a total of 18,000 copies in its first week of release, reaching number fifteen on the Billboard 200 chart. The album quickly fell off the chart, going on to sell 45,000 copies in the United States by 2015. The album fared similarly worldwide, reaching the lower end of various charts. Following the release of Fastlife, both Jonas and his band parted ways with Hollywood Records, purchasing the rights to their musical releases.
The album was preceded by the release of two singles. "See No More" was released as the lead single from the project in June 2011. The song reached number ninety-two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Just in Love" was released as the album's second single in September, reaching number eighty-five on the official UK singles charts. The song was later remixed to feature rapper Lil Wayne, which was released in October 2011. "Love Slayer" was released as a promotional single for the album, reaching the top ten of the Dance Club Songs chart. Jonas promoted the album through various live performances and interviews.
Background Joe Jonas first rose to fame as a member of the pop-rock band Jonas Brothers, who made their debut in 2006. The group signed with Hollywood Records in 2007, and released their multi-platinum second studio album that same year. The band became a teen sensation, having a large teenage fan-base and receiving much media attention focused on their personal lives. The brothers participated in many projects with the Disney Channel, including a number of television shows and television films. Jonas had his first solo release with the song "This Is Me" (2008) alongside Demi Lovato. The duet entered the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over 900,000 copies in the United States alone. He would later collaborate with Lovato again for various Disney projects, as well as the songs "Make a Wave" (2010) and "Wouldn't Change a Thing" (2010). Jonas and Lovato began a romantic relationship, though broke up in 2010. Even though they split, the two continued to tour together until Lovato left due to personal struggles with substance abuse and self-harm.
Jonas began dating actress Ashley Greene during the tour, whom he dated throughout the recording process of Fastlife.
While touring with the Jonas Brothers on their 2010 world tour, Jonas began working on a solo debut album. The project was officially announced on May 19, 2010. The announcement came during the period that fellow Jonas Brothers member Nick Jonas announced his side project, Nick Jonas & the Administration. Jonas claimed that he would not have worked on the album had his brothers not approved of the project. With Joe and Nick both working on solo projects, it was confirmed that the Jonas Brothers would be on an indefinite hiatus, allowing the brothers full freedom to focus on other endeavors. Nick confirmed that the band would reunite at some point, claiming they were "just taking some time to do some individual projects and enjoy that journey that each of us are on. It's exciting, you know, we're all doing different things and kind of taking those experiences and then we'll comeback and do something soon." In March 2011, while Jonas was still working on the project, he and Greene ended their relationship. The relationship and subsequent breakup provided inspiration for some of the lyrics on the album.
Recording and production In September 2010, a representative for Hollywood Records described the album as having a "dangerous" sound, and likened it to releases from Justin Timberlake. Jonas initially hoped for the record to have a "Hall & Oates meets disco-funk" vibe. During early recording sessions for Fastlife, Joe worked extensively with Robert Coppola Schwartzman on multiple songs, though none of them were released. Jonas would go on to describe the unreleased songs as having a "Freddie Mercury vibe". Schwartzman said the songs had a "retro '80s pop vibe with synthesizers and some electric guitar". Jonas would claim in 2013 that these songs were not used as the label hoped for the album to go in a different direction, hoping to achieve a similar sound to recording artist Justin Timberlake. Reportedly, the label found the tracks for the album to be "weird" and said they "sounded like demos", thus Jonas was told to work with producers who had worked with other Disney acts such as Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. Jonas described the early stages of the album as having a Michael Bublé sound, and revealed that two of the original songs were reworked into the finished product. Jonas would neglect to work with the producers the label hoped, instead working with producers such as Danja and Rob Knox on the majority of the project.
Jonas was a fan of Danja's work with artists such as Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige. On working with the producer, Jonas said "I told him that this was the kind of music I wanted to do and the type of album I wanted to create. At the same time I wanted to make something that was my own. We had two days apart and then came back and he presented me with some tracks and they were perfect. He was very easy to work with." Danja sought to make something different for Jonas, saying "There's such a gap between what I do and what the Jonas Brothers are. But that's the excitement -- it left us an opportunity to create something new." He contributed five songs for the album, including "Love Slayer". "Take It and Run" was one of the first songs produced for the project by Danja, and was written by Danja and Kevin Cossom. On the writing process, Danja said "It's Joe's album, it's not just something put together for him. He's collaborating with the writing. He's very different from what you'd expect. All I can say is he's an adult man. He has a rock-star edge about him."
Jonas worked with songwriter Claude Kelly for two days in New York City. Kelly, along with Danja, collaborated with Jonas on the song "Make You Mine". The two claimed to have worked on other songs together, though none of the other songs made the final track list. "Make You Mine" came to fruition after Jonas expressed a desire to create a "Michael Jackson tribute" for the album. Jim Beanz is credited as a producer on four songs for the project. Rob Knox worked with Jonas on three songs for the record, including the album's lead single "See No More" and the title track. Knox was quoted as saying "I look at Joe's scenario as kind of like when Justin Timberlake broke out of 'N Sync. Justin was 21 when he came out as a solo artist. Joe is coming to producers who know how to create that edgier pop feeling. We're not doing any boy-band songs." Jonas recorded a song titled "Black-Light" for the album, though it was not released. He also recorded a song titled "Body Language", which had a Latin feel and lyrically spoke of loving a girl who doesn't speak English. There were rumors of a song titled "Close to You" that featured Chris Brown on guest vocals. Jonas wanted the album's lyrics to be more personal than his releases with Jonas Brothers, stating "When I started writing for the record, I wanted it to be very personal … even though it's scary because it's just [me] by myself. People are going to listen and try to pinpoint what the lyrics are about, but I did my best without saying any names."
Jonas wrote all of the twelve songs featured on the album, including the remix of Just in Love featuring Lil Wayne and citing "Sorry" as the most personal on the album. Joe worked with his brother Nick on songs for the album, though none of them were included on Fastlife. On the process, Joe explained "I actually ended up writing with Nick for his project. At the time I was writing this record, though, he was more focused on doing the stuff he was doing … in London. That took up most of his time, so he wasn't really diving in quite yet with all the writing he's doing now, which has kind of taken over for him." Jonas met Chris Brown through a mutual colleague, with Jonas claiming they decided to work together after playing each other some of their music. The duo collaborated to write the song "See No More", with Brown providing background vocals for the song as well. Brown played Joe the song "Lighthouse", which he had written, and Jonas later recorded it for Fastlife. Hit-Boy is credited as the producer for "Lighthouse". Jonas later claimed to have been inspired by the music Brown played for him, which he claimed was evident in the finished product of Fastlife. The song "Just in Love" was initially announced under the title "Just in Love (With You)" prior to the release of the song. Following the release of "Just in Love", rapper Lil Wayne reached out to Jonas to record a verse for a remix of the song. On the collaboration, Jonas said "He just jumped on the record, and it's just super awesome to see that somebody like him would wanna support me [...] It means the world to me, and I love his rap, it's so dope." The remixed version of "Just in Love" appears as the final track on the album, despite not initially being on the track listing.
Musical style Jonas hoped to record an album that made people want to dance, and described the finished product as an "upbeat record". The record was seen as a drastic change from his sound with the Jonas Brothers, with Jonas describing Fastlife as "more urban and dance electronic" than the band's music. When asked about the dance elements of the album, Jonas claimed "It's the kind of music that I've always loved. I've always really been into dance music and electro music, and hip-hop music. I've always been sort of intrigued to go on my own path to create something different." The album was also seen as going in an R&B direction, with Jonas citing the genre as an influence for the project. He wanted to create an album that could be played in dance clubs, and began spending time in various clubs to gain inspiration for the album. Jonas said "We'd go out and just experience what every club was about. We'd listen to certain DJs and see how they worked the crowd. It was so new to me. What was so cool was that the music and vibe would vary from city to city - Miami clubs and L.A. clubs are totally different. But with this project, I wanted to find a sound that was universal." Jonas told Entertainment Weekly in February 2010 that the album was not "just a cheesy pop record", and claimed that the album had dance influences. Following the completion of the album, Jonas said the album was more "urban, hip-hop and dance" than his prior releases. He cited Tiësto, Swedish House Mafia, and Deadmau5 as some of the album's inspirations.