After 5-years the Jonas Brothers are back and showing growth

The Jonas Brothers took a lengthy break of over 5 years but they’ve finally decided to make a comeback. Joe, Nick and Kevin Jonas were in a band together for 8 years, singing, recording, and touring. But, as tension started to build between the brothers, they decided to make the wise choice of putting family first, and taking a break from being a band. However, their break was recently cut short when they released their new song “Sucker” which later became their first #1 on Billboard’s hot 100.

The official music video for “Sucker” takes place in Hatfield house in England and it features all three of the Jonas ladies, Sophie Turner, Priyanka Chopra and Danielle Jonas. The music video also reached #1 on trending and currently has 99 million views. For a fair portion of the video, Nick is featured in a red vest that shows off his strong muscles which he says came from his using “pump-up bands” on set. He says though it is a bit embarrassing, the reaction was worth it. Me being one of the reactors, I’d say the pump-up bands were a very smart choice. To showcase the true stars of the music video, all three leading ladies were featured in beautiful, colourful gowns, accessories and headpieces. The music video emphasizes many different scenes both inside and outside the mansion such as the brothers and the Jonas ladies in bathtubs in the garden, an elegant yet chaotic dinner scene, a portrait scene and even a scene with Joe tied up to the ceiling with only a tank and boxer shorts, which I think we can all appreciate.

Following the success of their first release post-break, they released a second track on April 5th called “Cool” which also has a music video, currently at 16 million views. It’s an 80’s miami-style pool/beach party video featuring many classic eighties looks such as visors, tights, bodysuits and hair combs, all of which are in bright neon colours. The video is also edited to look vintage-y.

Many inferences have been made about the song “Cool” and the references it may be making to the Jonas Brothers such as “winning like Game of Thrones” which could be hinting at Joe’s fiance, Sophie Turner, who acts on Game Of Thrones. Priyanka might also be referenced in the song in the line “I’m feelin’ high like a late night summer of last year” which could be hinting at the fact that Nick and Priyanka got engaged last August. The final reference was “Standin’ there with the red dress on ya” lyric. As an OG Jonas Brothers fan, I, like many others, quickly assumed it was referring to Nick’s infamous “red dress” lyric from their old song “Burnin’ Up,” which has now become a popular meme.

During their outstanding 8 years together, starting in 2005 to 2013, The Jonas Brothers released a total of 4 albums: It’s About Time, Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer and Lines, Vines and Trying Times. They grew to be a very successful band with tracks that charted as high as #5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 such as “Burnin up,” “S.O.S,” and “When you look me in the eyes.” Not only were they successful in their music, but in their acting as well. They played themselves on a show on Disney Channel called Jonas which they later rebranded to be Jonas L.A. They were also the stars of the well known Disney Channel original movie Camp Rock, as well as the sequel movie, Camp Rock 2: Final Jam where they played a famous band of brothers–very original isn’t it?

Though the band was tremendously successful in their career, the behind the scenes wasn’t so pretty. They revealed that throughout those years, a rift started to grow between the brothers, Joe and Nick in particular. Though we don’t know much about what went on in the shadows, in an interview with iHeartRadio, Joe explained that “growing up in this industry and being family as well, there’s a lot of stress that you might feel, there’s a lot of complications in the band, kind of a laundry list I’d  say of things that was going wrong.”

The “break-up” discussion came sometime during their preparation for tour. According to the brothers, Nick was the one to open up the discussion. He opened the conversation by saying, “Look, I feel like we’ve had some complications within the group for a long time without addressing them,” which then grew discussions about the future of the band. After many conversations, the brothers decided to put their family first. However, the break-up didn’t exactly patch things up between them. Joe has said that for a while, he was mad at Nick and blamed him for the break-up. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Joe said he “was seeing a therapist and I [he] wasn’t on speaking terms with my [his] brothers.”

After their disbanding, the brothers decided to focus on personal endeavors, all of which they’ve succeeded in. Nick continued down the path of music, but as a solo artist. His music stayed true to the mainstream/pop-rock style aspect of the group. Though his songs also included touches of multiple musical genres he’d been exploring such as R&B, soul and pop, differentiating his solo music from his older work with the band. Several of his songs including “Jealous,” “Chains” and “Levels” achieved success as high as #7 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Joe’s career post break-up also followed the musical path, in the band DNCE. In his new band, just as in the Jonas Brothers, he was the lead singer. Their music went in the direction of dance-rock and funk-pop, giving a light, bright and colourful style which we’ve seen in their song titles such as “Cake By The Ocean,” “Toothbrush” and “Pay My Rent.” “Cake by the Ocean” was DNCE’s debut single and the track they’re most known for. It peaked in the top 10 of many charts including Billboard’s Hot 100 list.

Kevin took a break from the music industry to focus on his family and his business ventures. He and his wife, Danielle Jonas, had two daughters, Alena and Valentina. He is also the co-CEO of “The Blu Market” which is a company that focuses on social influencers and strategies they can use to grow their followings. In addition, he helped launch “PhillyMack Games” with Phil McIntyre in 2016, which is a mobile game company that works with artists to help their social development. Joe has worked alongside Kevin in this project to launch a game for DNCE. As explained on Fast Company’s article, the objective of the game is that players can choose a member from DNCE as their character and launch them from balloons, without letting them fall. The fates of the band members are literally in your hands, or rather thumbs.

Joe, Nick and Kevin spent years rekindling their friendship and brotherhood, all on camera, with no intention of a band reunion. They all took part in a documentary about their present life and where they are now in their seperate careers, and as they spent more time together, they were put in the situation of having to discuss the issues they faced during their years as a band together which eventually became a very healthy and healing process for them. After having spent so much together, the brothers say they found their love for making music and singing together again. However, the process of getting back together was not easy. Joe was very hesitant when the idea was first mentioned, but after many discussions, the brothers ended up reuniting. Funny thing is, though Nick was the one to bring up the “break-up” conversation, he was also the one to bring up the “make-up” conversation, so I guess that let’s him off the hook.

Most of us longtime supporters were curious to see the differences and similarities from their earlier years to now, especially in their “front man.” It seems like that role is now more evenly shared between Nick and Joe, as seen in their recent TV debut of “Sucker” on the Late Late Show, where the members were each standing on a mobile platform and the center spot was switched between Nick and Joe throughout the performance. Musically, as Nick and Joe have explained on the Elvis Duran Show, they needed to find a way to balance Nick’s sound, DNCE’s sound and “Kevin bringing so much heart into this.” Nick explained that “there’s a mix of our older influences, people like the Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder, I’d  say even some Fleetwood Mac” as well as more modern influences such as Louis Bell, Post Malone and “even some Khalid you know just tryna mix it up and infuse all our different sounds.”

On the Elvis Duran show, Nick explained, “I think we realized that there was a magic when we’re together that we missed.” As amazing as it is to see the Jonas Brothers back and better than ever, there is a bit of curiosity as to why the change in “front man” role. Could the change possibly come from Nick having the most success as a solo artist? Or is it them trying to find a new way to balance their band and their brotherhood so they don’t face the issues that once tore them apart?

Cover image : jonasbrothers/Instagram