The Darkness singer Justin Hawkins has shared his thoughts on Jon Bon Jovi’s recent vocal performances, saying that “people around him need to tell him to stop” singing.
Hawkins made the statement during an appearance on his YouTube series “Justin Hawkins Rides Again”, after watching some fan-filmed videos of Bon Jovi’s 2022 tour.
“If you’re in a situation like that and you can’t deliver the goods and you can’t give your audience what they deserve, that’s horrible — it’s a horrible feeling — and you don’t enjoy touring in that condition; you just wanna go home,” he said.
“And I expect he’s feeling the same way, really. But there must be a huge machine around Bon Jovi that stops him from being able to pull the plug on it, really, which is what needs to happen, I think. I mean, I’m not talking about pull the plug forever.”
During the lengthy analysis of Bon Jovi’s vocal performance, Hawkins concluded that he believes the Grammy award musician’s issue isn’t medically related.
“It sounds like he needs some kind of therapy. And I think a lot of the time, a situation like that… It doesn’t sound like it’s a polyp or some sort of lump on his vocal cords ’cause that would be more unpredictable — he would be hitting the notes and then it would squeak off and it would do something unexpected.”
“But that’s not what’s happening here. This sounds like he’s super tired… And I think he’s psychologically… I don’t know… It sounds like something he’s gonna need some therapy with — actually talk to somebody and try and coax the performances back out. It doesn’t sound to me like there’s damage in there. I’m not a doctor but I’ve experienced voice problems before. And to hold a note with it being off key suggests some pitching issues that might be to do with hearing as well.”
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Hawkins continued to critique Bon Jovi’s singing, mentioning that he is “disappointed” by his performances.
“It’s not fun to watch this and it isn’t fun to regard one of the greats. He’s a great singer — he always has been — but this sounds like something is eating away at him from the inside. And I don’t think it’s a voice injury.”
“It saddens me to see it, I’m sure we’re all disappointed.”
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