What happened to Bon Jovi? It might seem like an unfair question since the band’s last album, 2007’s Lost Highway debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but fans who grew up with New Jersey’s favorite hard rock band might have been confused by the group’s decision to move towards the country end of the spectrum.

Though the band has never been afraid to perform with a bit of twang – one of their biggest hits, “Wanted Dead or Alive,” could have been a country hit with slight modification – the band’s decision to embrace Nashville, polarized the band’s longtime fans.

They return with a new album, The Circle, that finds the band attempting to return to its working-class roots. The disc seems to be striving to lift up the band’s fans in these difficult times and in a recent documentary, frontman Jon Bon Jovi explained his songwriting philosophy, which appears to back up that belief.

“The recurring theme of eternal optimism seems to be my niche,” he said in Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful. “I’m living there. I’m very, very comfortable in knowing that niche is mine.”

Still, the question remains, having achieved the level of success that the band has, is it possible for them to connect with their longtime fans? Certain megastars have attempted to do so and while some, like fellow New Jersey resident Bruce Springsteen continues to do so after nearly 40 years in the business, others like U2 have come off as crass and calculating.

The challenge for Bon Jovi will be to maintain its everyman appeal while not hiding from its success. On The Circle, the band begins that journey.