Why Tobias Jesso Jr. is stepping back into the spotlight

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To get it out of the way: Yes, Tobias Jesso Jr.has heard about gooning.“Somebody put me up on it and said it was about masturbation?” says the 40-year-old singer and songwriter, which is about half-right: As detailed in an essay in Harper’s that went viral last month, to goon — a term heretofore associated with Jesso thanks to his cult-fave 2015 album “Goon” — means in Gen Z parlance to masturbate at such great lengths that the act leads to a kind of trance state.“Well, I’ve never done that,” Jesso says.

“‘Goon’ I got from ‘The Goonies’ — it’s just a brilliant movie.” He laughs.“But I don’t care.

If it sells more records, sure.”That Jesso has a record to sell at all might take some by surprise.Though “Goon” thoroughly charmed critics and fellow musicians with its early-’70s-balladeer vibe — many said he evoked the glory days of Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and beard-and-shearling-coat-era Paul McCartney — Jesso didn’t cotton to the life of a sort-of-famous performer and almost immediately walked away from his solo career to write songs for other singers instead.He’s thrived in that role, penning hits for the likes of Adele, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa.

In 2023, he was named songwriter of the year at the Grammy Awards; this month he was nominated for that prize for a second time, with the Recording Academy citing his work with Justin Bieber (“Daisies”), Haim (“Relationships”) and Olivia Dean (“Man I Need”), among others.Yet now he’s back with an unexpected follow-up to his debut called “Shine,” which came out Friday.Stripped back for the most part to just voice and piano, it’s an earnest work of introspection from a guy who knows how to make tenderness feel like strength.Jesso, who grew up in Vancouver and lives in Los Angeles, announced the album just last week with a music video for his song...