Joe Jonas reveals underperforming solo album sales led him to therapy and made him question worth without his brothers

Wesley StenzelWed, August 5, 2026 at 8:23 PM UTC

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Joe Jonas in New York City on Nov. 10, 2025Credit: Dia Dipasupil/GettyKey points -

Joe Jonas said that he had “high expectations” for his debut solo album, Fastlife.

“It didn’t do as well as I thought it would do,” the singer recalled.

The project’s underperformance negatively impacted his mental health: “I started having panic attacks.”

Joe Jonas is reflecting on his disappointment with his first solo album.

The “Cake by the Ocean” singer discussed the underperformance of his solo debut, 2011’s Fastlife, during a conversation with his fellow Jonas Brothers on their podcast Hey Jonas.

“I released a solo album when I was about 21, 22, and it didn’t do as well as I thought it would do,” Jonas said. “Because everything the Jonas Brothers touched back then, it would be like gold, like it would be a number one thing [with a] sold out tour.”

Jonas hoped that Fastlife would reach similar heights. “I put something out by myself and I think I had a lot of high expectations of success without you guys, and that was important to me,” he said. “Somewhere in my core, I was like, ‘If I do that, then I matter.’”

Joe Jonas in Lowell, Mass., on Dec. 8, 2011Credit: Marc Andrew Deley/FilmMagic

The album ultimately peaked at No. 15 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and its lead single, “See No More,” peaked at No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jonas said that the relative underperformance negatively impacted his mental health.

“I started having panic attacks and started having physical pain,” he said. “And I would go to the doctor quite a bit and do full body checkups and blood work.”

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Jonas explained that a doctor eventually recommended he seek therapy. “She was kind enough to see me and she was like, ‘Look, you’re physically fine. Like, I can show you the charts again for like the third time this month,’” he recalled. “She’s like, ‘Look, I think you should — could you speak to somebody?’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean like a therapist?’ I was like, ‘I don’t need a therapist. Why would I need a therapist?’”

The singer eventually realized that it might be wise to seek help. “I was starting to put two and two together. The only thing that would make me feel better — I was living in New York at the time — would literally be taking my bike and going for bike rides all day long where I couldn’t be on my phone, and I couldn’t like scroll reading comments or seeing what was going on with that album. And I think just like being able to be outside and distract myself, but I was still running away from the problem.”

Jonas said that therapy has helped him work through various challenges. “I finally spoke to somebody, and after crying through the first question for an hour, [I] realized how great it was,” he said. “It was so helpful during that season and it has been throughout my life for other major life things that I’ve gone through, to just speak to somebody that’s a professional.”

Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas, and Joe Jonas in Los Angeles on Dec. 3, 2025Credit: Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

The musician noted how talking to a therapist differs from having similar conversations with loved ones. “Friends are great, family’s great, but there’s definitely an importance of [having] a sounding board of somebody that you can speak to that will ask questions in a completely different setting, and also there’s not a personal ultimatum,” he said.

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“Because I think when you talk to a friend or family, sometimes they’re thinking about themselves, and that’s just a normal, selfish thing that we all human beings do,” he continued. “But you talk to professionals, you’re like, ‘Oh, okay. I didn’t think of it like that.’ So that was great for me.”

on Entertainment Weekly

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”