Have you ever wanted something to last forever?
That feeling of holding onto something fleeting, beautiful, and real is at the heart of “This Won’t Last Forever,” the latest album from Arkansas-born pop duo joan. Juice Box Press sat down with Alan and Steven to talk about fatherhood, collaborating with K-pop stars, and the bittersweet emotions that inspired their most introspective project yet.
JBP: You’re in Little Rock, where you’re from and have also been writing and producing a lot of your work. How has that influenced the way you create music?
JOAN: Yeah, we’re currently in Little Rock. We grew up around here in central Arkansas and then have just stayed because we love it. We haven’t felt the need to move anywhere else. We started in two bedrooms in our respective houses, and it was cool to be doing music full-time, but it definitely got to a point where, you know, it feels like you’re working from home. There’s something cool about that, but there’s also something cool about having a space and a studio that’s your own. I think it opened up when we got this space in January of 2024. We bought a house and converted it. We have our room in here, we have a tracking room out there, we’ve got two of our best buddies. It’s just like a little creative community.
Edward, our video/visual guy rents a room. We have a best buddy, he’s a producer, he rents a room here. So, it’s like, when you get around other creatives, there’s just something really special about that and the environment. It creates.
So just being here has been really inspiring, honestly. We tried to create a space that we really love coming to. It doesn’t feel like a bedroom.
JBP: As I am currently working from home in my bedroom/office, I totally get that! Something I caught from you guys recently was your collaboration with K-Pop group EPEX on a song called “So Nice.” It blew up! What was that experience like, having a song with a group in a totally different genre?
JOAN: Very cool! It was different than anything we’ve ever done. They did a cover of one of our songs and we replied to it. We were like “this is sick,” and their team replied basically saying “hey write this for us,” and so we did, and they liked it and they asked us to feature on it. We were like, “sure!” Then they were like “Also, in a week, do you want to fly to Korea and shoot our music video for it?” So, within a month, we’d written and produced a song. We were flying out and doing a music video and learning dances and just having fun with it.
It was awesome.
JBP: So, how do you approach writing for other groups rather than yourselves?
JOAN: It’s song by song. It’s really fun because a lot of the pressure is off. I mean, you obviously want to write a great, hooky song and all that, But it’s kind of like, when you’re done creating it, you pass it back to them and everything else is up to them. It’s a little less pressure than when you write it for tousled, because it’s tied to your identity and everything. Although, we did feature on this song, so there’s still part of us, but it’s just different to share that burden.
The creative process is basically the same, and we treat it like we would any joan song. We make the same decisions. If the artist has a certain (vocal) range that we don’t have, it’s fun to kind of experiment. Like, “okay, can they sing higher or lower?” You can kind of make some songwriting decisions based on that. But, otherwise, we treat is just as important as a joan song.
JBP: Speaking of joan songs, I’m so excited for “this won’t last forever.” Can you give a glimpse into the themes and emotions you’re looking to explore with this project?
JOAN: The title came to us first, and it came to us in a time frame in our life where the studio was happening and a bunch of really great stuff was happening, but also, at the same time, there’s also stuff that happens personally where it’s just like, even our best days, it feels like there’s this cloud that’s kind of over you and not letting you enjoy life to the fullest. And that’s just how it started. It started with this concept of “hey, this won’t last forever.” It was from a poem that we wrote, just processing through some stuff and just trying to think through the idea of good, bad, mundane, whatever – it won’t last forever. So just live in the moment. We kind of liked that framework and built a collection of songs with that concept in mind.
JBP: Some of those songs include space, alibi, and lucid dreaming…and I’ll be honest, I’ve listened to them more times than I can count. How do these songs set the tone? What can we expect in terms of how they’ll impact the rest of the album?
JOAN: I think we definitely aimed for the sound of this record to be a bit less bright and poppy. It’s the theme, thinking through time. We both have two kids each, and when you have kids, time shrinks. All of a sudden, you have a lot less of it, or at least your perception of it.Your perception of time changes.
Everything feels important, and the things that don’t feel important, you want to cut out because you want to make room for the important stuff. We tried to do that even with the record, the production. We wanted to reflect the meaningfulness.
I think that manifested itself as a darker sound, a more melancholy sound. Even songs like “eyes” and “space” are love songs, but with a darker sort of shadow. We’ve written songs that are blatantly fun, dancey pop songs that are love songs and are always happy. We were kind of like, what if we explored a whole record where it’s not all bright and shiny?
JBP: That’s so beautiful. In that same vein, do you feel any pressure to cater to certain audiences, especially with streaming metrics playing such huge role in today’s industry?
JOAN: It would probably be a lot easier if we played the game a little more. I think we’re too much of perfectionists; we want to make sure that, when we release music, we’ve exhausted every single square inch of it.
I think that usually ends up taking way more time than maybe a lot of other people spend on music, and we’re fine with that. If it comes out and it’s not everybody’s cup of tea, at the end of the day, that’s fine with us.
We’re so proud of it and we love it so much that the process of making it is worth it to us. There are probably 20 things we could have done differently in this whole campaign that would have appeased streaming services and social media and blah, blah, blah. But we didn’t quite want to do that.
JBP: I think staying loyal to yourself has helped you maintain a loyal fan base, too. I mean, the fans showed up for your recently wrapped “Close Friends” tour. In the past year, you’ve also played with Block Party and Misterwives. What are your favorite moments you’ve have from any of these shows?
JOAN: I mean, Block Party was sick because we’ve played the biggest venues that we’ve played yet. We played Forest Hills Stadium (in Queens, NY) which is big. That was a lot of fun.
We did five or six shows in Australia, across the major cities. Touring, we have a bit of a love-hate with. We love playing the shows and we love connecting with people. I think that’s the fun and meaningful part of it. There’s no cooler feeling than seeing someone sing your songs back to you. There’s no cooler feeling than meeting someone at the merch stand and hearing that a song has affected their life in a positive way. That’s crazy; we’re in Little Rock writing these songs and someone in Australia is affected by them.
And, like you said, we just wrapped the “Close Friends” tour. The best part of that tour was doing free VIP every show. We would make a love of money if we sold VIP, but it just feels wrong to charge it. So it’s like, we’re literally going to do a Q&A in the middle of the show and have that be a part of it.
We wanted the experience to be small and intimate so we could see everybody’s face when we’re playing, so we only made them 100-150 capacity rooms, and there was no production, no frills.
JBP: That’s what music’s all about, the connection. That’ll never change. Speaking of change and bringing it back to the beginning of your career: since your debut album “Portra,” what’s been your biggest shift in growth?
JOAN: This may be too practical of an answer, but when we were doing “Portra,” we were self-producing to an extent. We always had some sort of partner to help us finish the songs, just because we had a clear vision, but we hadn’t put in our 10,000 hours yet of being producers. I think we had our writing at a good spot, but just not the rest.We’re way better at production and way better at songwriting now.
JBP: And I can’t wait to hear that shine at a live show! Can we expect another tour soon, maybe?
JOAN: We’re currently trying to figure that out now. We’ve had some stuff come on our plate for the fall that we’re having to stay home for. We’re trying to do shows around this, but we want to make sure it’s exactly the right this. It’s easy to just put up a tour and go do it. We want to be as intentional as possible with it, so we’re probably going to in the early part of next year.
Check out Joan’s latest album, “this won’t last forever,” here.
Nicole Speros holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications & Media Studies and is currently diving deeper into the industry at Berklee College of Music, where she’s studying Music Business. A passionate storyteller with an eye for what’s next, Nicole brings a sharp, curious voice to her work as a music journalist. She covers emerging artists, shifting trends, and the ever-evolving intersection of music and media—with a focus on authenticity, accessibility, and the songs that connect us all.
She’s an active member of GRAMMY U/The Recording Academy and Women in Music, always looking for ways to support and amplify voices in the industry. When she’s not in class or writing, you’ll probably find her stage-side at a local Boston show or hopping on a plane for her next adventure.