Joe Jonas on His Kenneth Cole Cologne, Pre-Show Rituals, and the Deep Cut OG Fans Always Request

We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we love. Promise.Courtesy of Kenneth ColeWe’ve all seen that cologne ad before—the one where a male model is flaunting his abs, riding a horse, making out with a beautiful woman, or some combination of all three. Joe Jonas isn’t that kind of guy. In his campaign for Kenneth Cole’s latest fragrance, Inspire, the singer-songwriter parodied the horned-up ads of yore with an *ahem* explosive music video (complete with an original song), a chorus of harmonizing Joe clones, and a tramp stamp reveal. And, fine, there’s a little bit of muscle flexing.As for the cologne itself? Inspire smells fresh and woodsy, with prominent notes of bergamot, rosemary, and cedar—a classic, versatile scent profile with a powerful sillage. “It gives me a boost of confidence,” Joe tells Cosmo. “It’s got a strong scent, which I like. And it feels like something I can douse myself in before a show.”Just in time for the launch, I caught Joe on a break from the Burning Up All Over Again tour to Zoom chat about all things Inspire, his most nostalgic fragrance memories, and how he keeps his performances feeling (and smelling) fresh on tour. Plus, he spilled his best tips for cologne-shopping for a partner—trust me, you’re going to want to take notes.As someone who’s watched a lot of hyper-sexual cologne ads, I thought your Inspire ad was hilarious. What was your process for making that video?I also have seen a lot of sexy cologne ads in my day. I was thinking with Kenneth, “What if we did something that was a bit playful, and then you realize we're in on the joke with you?” Anthony Mandler, who I've worked with on a bunch of music videos—he directed the Sucker music video for us—he's brilliant and a great film director. We took him out of retirement to shoot a fragrance ad, and we had a lot of fun. We were just laughing through our ideas every day like, “What if we did this? What if I did a tramp stamp?” which you'll see in some of the ads.What kind of scents did you gravitate toward when you first started the Burning Up tour back in 2008?Whatever was being sold to me on television, probably Old Spice at the time. Back in the day, we were gifted a lot of things. I think some of it was telling from our fans, actually. So if fans gave us cologne, that was usually a sign that we didn't smell great.How have your cologne preferences changed over time?Like everyone, I started exploring with Le Labo Santal [33]—you walk past somebody in the street, and you're like, “That person smells exactly like me.” I think now, being able to switch it up is good too, but you always end up going back to the things you like the smell of.Music and scent have a powerful association with memories. Do you remember the first cologne you were ever gifted?Gucci Guilty. It’s got a special place in my heart. It reminds me of the ocean, because I was living near the ocean at the time.If I was buying cologne for my significant other, what advice would you give me?Go with something that you would like to smell all the time, because you’re the one that’s gonna have to put up with it, and you want to make sure you love it. And maybe sneak in there, “Oh, let's go to the mall,” and then spray it on them for a second, because [cologne] smells different on everybody. You might let it sit, and then later on, you can be like, “Do I still like it?” I think that's important.How does fragrance factor into your pre-show ritual?The brothers have a tent, and it's right outside of the main stage, so we run there quickly to do a quick change or to refresh, and it's also just a fragrance factory. I think Nick [Jonas] must be spraying himself like seven to eight times—it kind of becomes a hot box of fragrances.Is there a specific scent profile you like to spritz on before a show?Something that I would feel confident can carry the weight of a two-hour show, sweat and all. It needs to be strong, maybe something a bit smoky, tobacco-y, grounded. [Something that] gives me confidence.You still have a few months left of the Burning Up All Over Again tour, and you've been performing some of these songs for almost two decades. How do you make them feel fresh?We try to switch up the music a little bit. I think it's important to still keep the integrity of the song that you created early on. There’s a great songwriter I worked with, and they gave me the advice that [the fans] hold these songs close to their heart now, so give it to them the way they deserve it. I love playing some of these old songs the way they sounded, but you can always add intros and outros—that helps.Do you ever have to hype yourself up to sing these songs that you've been performing for so long?I have to hype up the teleprompter because some of these songs, I don't remember the lyrics because they're really old. I used to be ashamed of using a teleprompter until I was like, “Guys, we have 20+ years of discography to remember.” I sometimes have to find a place mentally to go, because some of these songs are really emotional, and you want to tap back into that. You can find somebody in the audience that is going through something, or this was their song. I want to do it justice.Do you have a certain song that you look forward to performing each time?There's a song called ‘Shelf’—it's kind of an older song for us. Any time I get to play that, it brings me joy. It's a deep cut for the brothers, and the ones that know are OG fans, that's the one they always request. Now, it's on the set list for a while because we're going on this Burning Up tour, and it’s a similar set list from 2008, so a lot of people are going to be hearing that song every night. They're not going to have to request it [anymore].This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.Lauren Gruber is a shopping editor at Hearst Magazines with more than five years of professional writing experience. She specializes in fragrance, beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content for Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, and more. Before her time at Hearst, Lauren graduated from New York University and wrote for Shop TODAY, Entertainment Tonight, Self, V Magazine, L’Officiel, and more. When she’s not researching Prime Day deals or testing the latest perfume launches, you can find Lauren hanging out with her cat Serafina or flexing her AMC A-List membership at the movie theater.