Julian Lennon has always been out of the limelight when it comes to the Lennon name. Some of this is on his own accord, and some of it is due to his brother being more in the forefront. Recently, it was said that Julian originally had no interest in seeing a screening of the biopic, Get Back.
For Julian Lennon, it was only out of the love for his brother, Sean that he went to go see the film. Julian states: “I was like, ‘I don’t need to do that,'” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “But [brother] Sean was adamant and felt committed, and we were both in L.A.… so I said, ‘Listen, I’ll go with you. Let’s go together, let’s go as a team.’ And it was great to do that.”
The media has made it seem like the pair of brothers have not been too close, but for Julian, who will release his seventh studio album Jude on Friday, putting on a united front with Sean, 46, is an everyday occurrence. The star says the pair speak often, bonding over everything from music and food to exercise and photography.
Julian stated: “We’re brothers and we love each other deeply on that level. We just talk daily, same as anybody would.”
Julian also stated that he was a bit nervous to see the film, but did eventually come around to it. When Julian and his brother would leave the showing, they were in love with it.
Julian Lennon commented: “We loved it. Being in the picture, [Jackson] actually took the edge off watching the film, because I was very nervous about it. But he made a few jokes and he was quite funny, and it made us able to enjoy the film.”
Get Back, which came out in November, chronicles the Beatles’ preparations for a rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row in January 1969, which would turn out to be their last performance ever.
Julian found that the film helped connect him with his father, who died in 1980 at age 40, in ways he hadn’t expected.
On his memories, Julian said: “I remembered him as a kid—goofy, funny, sarcastic, charming. I fell in love with him again because that was the guy I remember before it all went pear-shaped.”
Get Back also got him thinking about that specific time period in his life, during which Paul McCartney wrote the song “Hey Jude” as a means of consoling the young Julian amid his parents’ divorce.
He’d long had mixed feelings about the song due to the associated memories, but as he reconnected with his past, the added benefit of time helped him see things in a new light. With that in mind, he felt moved to name his new album Jude.
He closed: “It reminded me of Jude again and what that all meant and the effect that it had on me and my mother way back then, So it was about taking the weight of the world off your shoulders and finding peace and love and happiness in your life.”
