Nick Jonas wears his heart on his sleeve in ‘Complicated’

JONAS. His forays into acting haven’t diminished his passion for music.

LONG BEFORE he solidified his heartthrob status as a member of the now defunct Jonas Brothers, Nick Jonas began his long but satisfying climb as one of Tinseltown’s most versatile young comers—as a 7-year-old child actor who appeared in stage musicals like “A Christmas Carol,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Les Miserables” (as Gavroche) and “The Sound of Music” (as Kurt) on Broadway.

These days, Nick is involved in artistic endeavors that allow him to put his stage-honed skills to good use—and expand his range and repertoire as an all-around performer. He has won raves for portraying a homicidal frat boy in the horror-comedy series, “Scream Queens,” and as a sexually conflicted MMA fighter in DirecTV’s acclaimed fight drama, “Kingdom.”

Fortunately for his avid followers, his forays into acting haven’t diminished his passion for music—as his Hot 100 solo smash, “Jealous,” demonstrated.

In “Last Year Was Complicated,” his third solo album, which bowed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 recently, he makes no bones about how vulnerable he’s been after his most difficult breakup to date—and, no, he isn’t talking about his singing exes, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Delta Goodrem:

Last year, he ended his romance with Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo—but, bittersweet memories of that failed relationship continue to haunt the 23-year-old pop star in his latest album.

You can dance all you want to the catchy riffs of the anthemic club track, “Champagne Problems,” but there’s wistfulness and dejection in its lyrics: “How many times have we been here before?/ So many reasons not to celebrate/ But, I hate to see you cry, so let’s drink before goodbye.”

Two-year relationship

Nick’s lyrics let his listeners peek into what could have gone wrong in his two-year relationship with Culpo. In the gorgeously rendered “Unhinged,” “Don’t Make Me Choose” and the carrier single, “Close” (featuring Tove Lo), he sings about commitment (“Say my endless indecision keeps you up at night”), his inability to compromise, and his failure to completely open up to her.

In the stirring “Chainsaw,” his impassioned musical metaphor for letting go, he whines and waxes romantic about coming to an empty home, and seeing “too many rooms in this house, so I keep going out/ We gotta find a way to be OK.”

If you just want to sing along and groove to Jonas’ distinctive fusion of pop, hip-hop and R&B, you’ll enjoy the finger-snapping appeal of “Touch,” the haunting charm of “Voodoo” and the groovesome funk of “Good Girls,” sung with hip-hop hotshot Big Sean.

Nick’s lyrics aren’t always perfect. Take “Comfortable”: “Never trust a door till it’s open.” —Say that again?
Having said that, we can’t find fault in Nick’s willingness to share his deepest thoughts and innermost feelings about something so personal, because he’s tired of being perpetually guarded. As he recently explained to Entertainment Weekly: “I used to hide behind a wall of robotic response, which I’ve given up. I’ve got nothing to hide anymore—and it feels good!”