On Thursday, Feb. 28, people around the world woke up, turned on their phones and computers, and saw the words, “We’re Back,” on every possible form of social media. The message originated from the newly-formed accounts of The Jonas Brothers.
That’s right, after a six-year hiatus, Nick, Joe, and Kevin are making music together again. The announcement came as a shock to fans. Until the group wiped their social media accounts clean a few hours prior, there had been no clear warning that a reunion would be coming.
The peak of the Jonas Brothers’ early 2000s fame and success took place when current college students were in late elementary school and middle school. Hamilton students were full of excitement when they found out the band that stole their adolescent hearts was getting back together.
Anna Lyndaker ’21 said, “When I knew that they were reviving the band, I felt like my body was resurrecting from the dead.”
Abby Goodman ’21 felt “shock, disbelief, excitement, elation, and bliss.” Goodman added, “Hearing about their reunion was a sign that life was about to start making sense again.”
Highlights of the Jonas Brothers’ career (pre-break-up) include dozens of hit songs and many acting appearances on Disney Channel shows and movies. Some of their most popular songs include “Year 3000,” “Burnin’ Up,” “Lovebug,” and “S.O.S.” The Jonas Brothers also had iconic roles on the Disney Channel Original Movies
Camp Rock
and
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
. Additionally, they starred in their own Disney Channel Original Series,
JONAS
(second season known as
JONAS L.A.
) for two seasons from 2009–2010.
The band’s last song together was “First Time,” released in 2013. It was meant to be the second single off of their fifth album. Unfortunately, that album never came to be, as they split up due to creative differences and wanting to focus on their individual careers and lives.
Since then, Nick Jonas has released two solo albums.
Nick Jonas
was released in November 2014. The album’s second single, “Jealous” peaked at number 7 on the
Billboard
Hot 100 Chart, making it Nick’s highest charting song. His album
Last Year Was Complicated
(2016) featured the hit single “Close,” which, as his third song to reach
Billboard
’s US Mainstream Top 40 Chart, was well received commercially and critically. Nick has also performed on Broadway and London’s West End since the break-up of the Jonas Brothers.
After the band’s split in 2013, Joe Jonas experimented as a solo artist, but ultimately decided to form a new band. Joe became the lead singer of pop group DNCE in 2015. DNCE is perhaps best known for their debut single, “Cake By the Ocean.” For the past three years, DNCE has toured internationally and collaborated with artists like Selena Gomez and Nicki Minaj.
While his younger brothers concentrated on their solo vocal careers post-break-up, Kevin Jonas decided to focus on starting a family. Kevin married Danielle Deleasa in 2009. In 2012–13, Kevin and Danielle starred in their own reality series,
Married to Jonas
, on the
E! Network
. The couple now has two daughters, ages two and five.
The Jonas Brothers released their new single “Sucker” at midnight on Friday, along with a music video for the song. The song’s catchy hook and delightful harmonies transport listeners back to the peak of early 2000s boy band music. However, there is an air of maturity to “Sucker” that sets the song apart from the band’s earlier work. The video, filmed at a palace in England, heavily features Nick’s wife Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Joe’s fiancé́ Sophie Turner, and Kevin’s wife Danielle Jonas. It is full of extravagance: champagne in bathtubs, puffy dresses, and palatial gardens to name a few. It’s sure to be a video you’ll want to watch more than once.
The video left a strong impression on Hamilton students. Grace Passannante ’20 said, “It was a huge surprise to see the Jonas Brothers back in action in their new music video. They were known for so long as the ‘teenage girl boy band,’ but now they are all grown up and have wives…who are all featured in their new music video […] and I think that really speaks to their characters. Despite the vast amount of change in their lives over the past few years, “Sucker” proves that the Jo Bros are still the Jo Bros.” Bianca Macdonald ’21 added, “I wasn’t a huge fan of the song until I watched the music video; seeing their group dynamic again rekindled the nostalgia I felt towards them as a kid and sparked an excitement to see where they decide to go next.”
The Jonas Brothers are currently promoting their reunion and new song on a media tour of talk shows, radio shows, and web interviews. They have been taking over
The Late Late Show with James Corden
all week with interviews, exclusive performances, and a special edition of the show’s popular segment “Carpool Karaoke.” In a recent interview on popular radio show
The Elvis Duran Show
, Nick explained what prompted the reunion. He said, “It started about a year ago, almost exactly. And initially, it was about filming a documentary […] And in that, I think we just started to spend a lot of time together, filming again, and I think we realized that there was a magic when we were together that we missed, you know, and we felt like something different always happened we were together.”
To experience more of the magic that you missed, look out for more new music and exciting announcements to come from the newly reunited Jonas Brothers.
