It turns out it wasn't just a clever photo op. The album, which has been promised since late 2014, was ultimately scrapped by Jewel, who has been working on a new version of it ever since.
Alexis Rivera, an employee of Jewel's Echo Park Records and his manager, confirmed that Jewel destroyed thousands of copies of the record. She said that he felt inspired to rework the album after a near-death experience.
Rivera added that the new version of Dear Tommy is almost done, though we certainly won't hold our breath.
Read the full story below via Rivera's string of tweets.
Enough people have asked about Dear Tommy and the status of the album, I think it's time for an update https://t.co/5A3znJr4Fs
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Christmas day 2015 Johnny almost died in Hawaii. I don't want to go into details, but I'm sure he'll discuss it in interviews at some point.
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
When he came back home to California he destroyed all copies of Tommy. 15K CDs & 10K vinyl in the Italians warehouse in Glendale, all gone
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
When we announced "Twin Peaks" in March, you can see some of those broken Tommy records https://t.co/Ink9W8hI24
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Is it weird to destroy & delete your album once it's done? Fuck yes. It's also financially insane. But it wasn't the first time he's done it
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
March of 2011: Glass Candy was playing in Guadalajara & Johnny gave me a box of Kill For Love CDs. He wanted the album out later that month.
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Then he got hired to score Drive, then that went absolutely snafu. Shit comes up all the time that changes things. Sometimes it's a blessing
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Johnny destroyed the CDs & vinyl of that version of Kill For Love in April 2011. Publicly no one knew. But it kickstarted a creative streak
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Johnny destroyed the CDs & vinyl of that version of Kill For Love in April 2011. Publicly no one knew. But it kickstarted a creative streak
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
He worked more on Kill For Love, he worked on Symmetry's Themes, he worked on more music that I hope we'll hear sooner rather than later
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
He even referenced the other version of Kill For Love (and multiple changes) in an interview with @pitchfork in 2012 https://t.co/PZTySumQOU pic.twitter.com/8c7XBsS14l
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork Anyway back to Johnny almost dying. After he went on another streak. Doing Tommy. Producing new acts like Heaven. Doing films & "Twin Peaks"
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork As for Dear Tommy, now that we are getting closer to the release of the album, Johnny wanted the music from it to come down
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork "Dear Tommy" has the same titles, same lyrics, same track order, as when it was announced Dec of 2014. Nothing's changed except it's better
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017