Sporting a fresh buzzcut and a tastefully simple leather jacket, Nick Jonas races his motorcycle down a lonely desert highway. The road sign behind him says “Leaving Childhood” as he rides off into the night.

All of that happens within the first minute of Jonas’s video for the song “Jealous” from his recent self-titled album. The message is abundantly clear: Nick is growing up, and so is his music. While it would be easy to mock his new “bad boy” appearance, Jonas demands to be taken seriously on Nick Jonas.

Surprisingly, it’s kind of hard not to take him seriously. Similar to Justin Timberlake’s smooth and massively successful transition into adult R&B in 2006 with FutureSex/Love- Sounds, Jonas has traded the Jonas Brothers’ pop-rock for a more sophisticated and sexy R&B style. Nick Jonas might not have many standout tracks like “SexyBack,” but the first two tracks of his album, “Chains” and “Jealous,” have the potential to help Jonas break away from his teen-pop Jonas Brothers persona.

“Chains” opens the album with ominous, thudding bass. Soon, the track builds up to a howling, aggressive chorus that evokes Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak days. While the opening track establishes an overall dark and brooding sound to the album, a few tracks, such as the danceable radio hit “Jealous” and the bouncy “Wilderness” show off Jonas’s lighter side.

Jonas collaborates with long-time friend and former Disney Channel star Demi Lovato on the angsty but catchy ballad “Avalanche.” Their voices blend effortlessly on the soaring chorus as they sing about a relationship on the brink of disaster.

The album as a whole is polished and shows off Jonas’s talent as a musician. Although Nick Jonas most likely will not become a classic, it definitely has the potential to secure Jonas’s credibility as a talented solo artist.