Description
Bon Jovi – 2020 – Compact Disc
Bon Jovi’s 2020 is the band’s 15th studio album, released on October 2, 2020 via Island Records. On paper it’s a standard late-career rock album, but the way it was made (and remade) is what gives it its identity: it was originally scheduled for May 15, 2020, then pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic—during which Jon Bon Jovi rewrote part of the project to directly reflect what was happening in real time.
The album was recorded across 2019–2020, with sessions including Ocean Way in Hollywood, and it was produced by Jon Bon Jovi and John Shanks (Shanks has been a central studio partner for the band in their modern era). The standard album runs about 48 minutes (with some CD listings showing a slightly shorter runtime depending on edition/track indexing).
Where 2020 becomes more than “the next Bon Jovi album” is in the way its tracklist reflects the year it’s named after. During quarantine, Jon wrote two new songs specifically for the final version: “Do What You Can,” explicitly tied to the pandemic experience, and “American Reckoning,” written in response to George Floyd’s murder and connected to the wider 2020 protest moment. Those additions weren’t minor—before the delay, the album was set to include different songs (“Luv Can” and “Shine”) and even had a different opening/closing plan, but the final release swapped and resequenced material so the record would feel more current to 2020 as it was actually unfolding.
The singles rollout tells that same story. “Unbroken” was the first release (November 2019) and was tied to a charitable angle—its download proceeds were donated (net) to the Patriotic Service Dog Foundation for a period following release. The big “album era” lead single was “Limitless” (February 20, 2020), supported by a fan-participation promo campaign built around people submitting themselves singing the chorus. Once 2020’s events reshaped the album, the campaign shifted with it: “American Reckoning” arrived July 10, 2020, and “Do What You Can” followed July 23, 2020 (with a music video released August 25).
Personnel-wise, this era also reflects the band’s modern touring/release reality. One notable footnote from the promo cycle: David Bryan was unable to participate in some promotional performances due to commitments to the musical Diana, with Greg Mayo filling in on keyboards for those appearances.
In terms of what you actually hear, 2020 sits in Bon Jovi’s contemporary lane: arena-scale choruses, polished guitars, and clear lyrical themes, but with an unusually explicit attempt to document its moment—pandemic life, protest, and social tension—alongside relationship and resilience songs that are more typical of their late-period writing. It’s also a record where sequencing matters more than you might expect: the final track order was reshaped so the “here’s where we are right now” songs sit near the front, rather than being tacked on as bonus commentary.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Limitless
Do What You Can
American Reckoning
Beautiful Drug
Story Of Love
Let It Rain
Lower The Flag
Blood In The Water
Brothers In Arms
Unbroken
Shine (Bonus Track)
Luv Can (Bonus Track)
