I agree that the songs of Bon Jovi might be dark but always have that little bit of sunlight that says "everyting's gonna be all-right" but, to me, this only works when the song itself is dark or at least has any feeling. I fail to relate to any song in What About Now, maybe only to Pictures of You, and that's all. The same thing happenned to me with The Circle, couldn't relate to any of those songs (Maybe Superman Tonight), as I heavily did with Lost Highway or These Days.

My issue with What About Now is that they're so "happy" that's a cliché, I don't need someone to tell me to do something "because I can" with a happy melody, I need someone to tell me "look, this all sucks", made me see how bad it sucks with a deep melody (not a goofy solo) and then "but we can make it work, because we can". Is not the message, but how it's delivered. And it doesn't have to be always depressing to make me relate to it. For example, I can relate to It's My Life because it has strength, energy, something that What About Now is seriously lacking.

Sorry if I couldn't explain myself clearly.