Happiness Begins is the fifth studio album by the Jonas Brothers, released on June 7, 2019, by Republic Records. It is their first album since 2013's Live, and their first studio album since 2009's Lines, Vines and Trying Times. It was preceded by their comeback single "Sucker" as well as "Cool". The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200.
Background
In writing and recording for the album, the brothers said that they wanted a "new and improved sound" with "feel-good tracks", so their A&R at Republic Records, Wendy Goldstein, got in contact with Ryan Tedder, Greg Kurstin and Justin Tranter to help compose and produce songs for them. Tedder stated that they would "write a song in about 90 minutes, cut it in the second hour. It would be demo'd by dinner." Billboard described the resulting sound as containing "hints of everything from '80s new wave to reggae to country", and also said that "Nick describes 'Hesitate' as Joe's love letter to Sophie, while 'I Believe' is a synth-heavy slow jam that alludes to his own whirlwind romance with Chopra ".
On March 1, 2019, "Sucker" was released as the lead single from the album. The song debuted at number one on the BillboardHot 100, becoming the Jonas Brothers' first song to do so. On April 5, 2019, "Cool" was released as the second single. The song debuted and peaked at number 27 on the Hot 100. "Only Human" was released as the third and last single of the album on July 2, 2019.
Commercial performance
Happiness Begins debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 414,000 album-equivalent units, of which 357,000 were pure sales, becoming the Jonas Brothers' third number-one album in the country. It was the biggest total units and sales figure for a number-one album in the US in 2019, and biggest sales week for an album since the 1.2 million copies of Taylor Swift's Reputation in 2017. However, Swift's own Lover sold over 867,000 units and 679,000 pure sales in August 2019, surpassing the records set by Happiness Begins. In Canada, Happiness Begins, also debuted at number one with 36,000 album-equivalent units, being the group’s third chart-topping album following A Little Bit Longer and Lines, Vines and Trying Times.
