Yahoo Movies Franklin Jonas Releases Debut Single 'Cocaine' Inspired by Feeling 'Nostalgic for the Bad Times'
Move over, Joe, Nick and Kevin — Franklin Jonas is entering the music game.
On Tuesday, the former child actor — known as Frankie or the "Bonus Jonas" — released his debut single "Cocaine," a psychedelic-influenced alternative track featuring lyrics that seem to draw inspiration from his past struggles with alcohol and drug addictions.
"'Cocaine' is about longing for the coping mechanisms you don't have or can't do anymore," said Jonas, 22, in a press release about the song, co-written and produced with Charlie Brand. "It's the point where you become nostalgic for the bad times because even the bad times had good distractions."
Henry Kornaros
Released alongside a music video featuring Jonas driving on country roads and exploring nature, the "Cocaine" clip wraps with him performing the song with a band in a diner, which transforms into a theater and a field, before spending romantic time with a love interest (played by Audrey Anglum).
According to a press release, Jonas began making beats and learning to produce music in college. He then studied audio engineering with John McBride and, after Jonas' roommate and fellow musician Clint Michigan encouraged him to take music more seriously, decided to begin writing and releasing songs.
"Cocaine" marks Jonas' first official music release. However, he previously sang alongside fellow superstar sibling Noah Cyrus for "Ponyo On the Cliff By the Sea" from the 2009 film Ponyo, which they both starred in.
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Henry Kornaros Franklin Jonas
In March 2021, Jonas opened up in a TikTok video about how he struggled with addiction and suicidal thoughts prior to getting sober around the start of 2020.
"This is by no means the eloquent explanation I hope to give on a much more serious mode than this. However from a very young age I struggled with drinking and drugging as an escape because I hated life, and I didn't want to be here," Jonas said in the video, posted in response to a fan who asked about his experience with addiction. "I eventually, after many years of trying to kill myself accidentally, came to a point where I was going to do it for real."
"Something intervened, and my life was saved," he continued. "I went to treatment, and it saved me. I couldn't be more grateful for the fact that I'm alive today because my world has changed so beautifully and so astronomically, and I am not that person anymore. I couldn't be more grateful that I'm alive and happy."
