Source: The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

Bon Jovi is not a band that throws curveballs at its audience. Fans of the long-running Jersey pop-rock group have come to expect big canvases painted in primary colors, self-affirmation anthems, summertime singalongs. On "Lost Highway," the group's 2007 set, Jon Bon Jovi surprised some listeners by dipping a toe into the alt-country creek. But ever since then, this luxury sedan has gone right down the middle of the Turnpike at top speed.

"Because We Can," the optimistic, engaging lead single from the soon-to-be-released "What About Now" takes few chances. If you're okay with that — and if you're a Bon Jovi fan, you surely are — you're likely to walk away satisfied. On July 24 and 25, Bon Jovi will return to the Meadowlands, plug in, and fire up "Because We Can," and the faithful gathered at the stadium are going to go bonkers. Like "We Take Care of Our Own," Bruce Springsteen's lead single from "Wrecking Ball," it seems to have been designed to do just that.

"Because" opens in typical Bon Jovi style with a chorus sung in harmony and a monster truck of a backbeat from Tico Torres. It's a trick that's been working for rock bands for forty years, and it hasn't lost any of its power to rouse. From there, the song settles into a chugging verse groove driven, as much contemporary pop-rock is, by a steady throb from the bass player. The stanzas follow a pair of lovers trying to rekindle romance, and there are a few believable details tucked into Bon Jovi's couplets — he tells of paper plates and wine left on a kitchen table as the couple gets close. (Considering all the water imagery in the song, they're probably in a shore town.)


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