The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins has given his verdict on Jon Bon Jovi’s reported recent struggles with his vocals. The latter’s US tour with his band Bon Jovi received regular criticism last month for the standard of the singer’s vocals, with one reviewer describing his performance as “shockingly poor”.

Jovi has not yet publicly acknowledged the negative reviews he has received for his recent vocal performances, reps for the band have reportedly been asked by the Asbury Park Press for a response to some of the negativity the singer may have received but they declined to comment.

Hawkins spoke about Jovi’s recent vocal issues on his YouTube series Justin Hawkins Rides Again last week, the Darkness musician whilst watching a recent live performance filmed by a fan and expressed sympathy for the singer, and observed that Jovi’s vocals sounded “tired” rather than hindered by a vocal cord problem and whilst age could also be a factor Hawkins seemed to suggest age didn’t seem like the main cause for Jovi’s vocal troubles.

Hawkins said “It sounds like he needs some kind of [vocal] therapy, It doesn’t sound like it’s a polyp or some sort of lump on his vocal cords, because that would be more unpredictable — he would be hitting the notes, and then it would squeak off and it would do something unexpected. Hawkins theorised that while Jovi has been singing in a lower key, the singer hasn’t been able to find the “muscle memory” in his voice.”

He then continued “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. 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. I feel like the people around him need to tell him to stop.”

The Darkness’ dropped their album, Motorheart back in November whilst Bon Jovi most recently released their album 2020 in 2020 and their single “Story of Love” in 2021.