By Mandy Rosenberg ’20
The first Monday night of quarantine, my sister, our friend, and I sat down and turned the TV to Disney+. With pizza in our laps, we couldn’t commit to anything, so our friend clicked on the Disney Channel show from the 2000s “Jonas.” The show itself emoted little nostalgia; despite my sisters and I being big Jonas Brothers fans, we did not enjoy skipping our play time outside to watch a fictional adaptation of the lives of one of our favorite bands.
However, after two episodes of laying back, I was surprisingly hooked even with the terrible writing, plot holes, and character arcs. After leaving my friend’s house that night, my sister and I started off each day with 3-4 episodes of Jonas, making it a temporary part of our quarantine routine.
Last year in March, the brothers made their comeback from their 2013 breakup with the release of their single “Sucker.” Although I was shocked and excited, I did not find the single overly impressive and invested little time in their return to the pop scene, while briefly reminiscing over the adoration my sisters and I had for them in the late 2000s.
However, now with all this time on our hands, we could revisit what seemed entirely legitimate then, but flawed and silly now. As we consumed more of the Jonas Brothers’ music, we became less ashamed of the stigma surrounding how it was marketed to young girls, and became pure appreciative for the amount of elation caused from a simple and forgotten song.
While rewatching Camp Rocks 1 & 2, my father, who despised the Brothers for the longest time while hearing it blast in the backyard, admitted his liking for the song “Find You.” Throughout our childhood he was strongly repulsed by the Brothers’ strained voices, but as we continued joyously playing songs like “Burnin ‘Up” and “S.O.S.” he also began to appreciate the talent the boys had to create a catchy song.
Each day inside passed and my appreciation for this band from my childhood increased. My YouTube suggestions clogged up with recent interviews and promotions of the Brothers, and thus I learned a lot about them in a brief amount of time: they have a documentary on Amazon Prime called Chasing Happiness which follows the Brothers’ as they ascended into fame, from when Nick Jonas began on Broadway, to the time they were managed at Disney, and their journey to reuniting. Although a documentary about the Jonas Brothers will be off-putting to anyone who isn’t or was a fan, it is incredibly revealing of the hardship they took on when signing onto Disney, and the 90s style boy-band image they were initially avoiding.
Briefly, one of the brothers mentions the thirteenth season premiere of South Park’s “The Ring.” During the episode, “their boss Mickey Mouse explodes in the insistence that they not be able to take off their purity rings so he can ‘sell sex to little girls’” but without making the Disney company look bad. While making clear that the purity rings were a commitment that the Brothers had made at their father’s church, Joe Jonas did not deny the episode’s accurate portrayal of the company’s intentions, showing the Brothers’ awareness for the way they were marketed, and allowing them to reflect.
Long-time fans will find Chasing Happiness intriguing and refreshing while they return to their music. But it was also made for people that were forced to bite their tongues as their friend or family member blabbed over their favorite brother. Behind the pretty boy band that Disney marketed them as, they are also talented musicians that started for their passion for music. One can hear their punk/rock and pop influences that make them a staple band of the 2000s. To all those stubborn people that overlooked the music due to the image, I have compiled a list of my personal ten favorites that I feel represents them the best:
- “Love Bug” – Outstands the test of time, lyrically clever, and the electric guitar that rips during the bridge compliments the turn to a slower, softer sound.
- “Burnin’ Up” – Would never find a person not singing along to this song and is just a pure dopamine booster.
- “S.O.S.” – The fast pace and the mix of the brother’s vocals makes this track worthy of my father’s approval.
- “Hold On” – As Nick Jonas says “it is a good arena rock song” that “people just really love”.
- “Tonight” – Pop-rockish, fast paced chorus sung by Nick Jonas with soft rounds sung by brother Joe, and guitar licks from Kevin that make it adrenaline rushing and soothing.
- *“Paranoid” – Don’t watch out for your reputation, just listen to the song.
- “Cool” – The second single off their newest album; after listening to this song, you will feel just what the title suggests.
- “Fly With Me” – Imagine standing in a car with the sunroof open.
- “WWW III”- Almost has a nasty sound that is memorable and favorable for rock lovers.
- “What a Man Gotta Do” – A recent single just released that will have you tapping and snapping, while feeling absolute euphoria from the Brothers’ falsetto.
*This song was originally “Year 3000,” a Busted cover that put the Jonas Brothers on the charts. With its success, it became a defining song of their career. However, I felt compelled to replace the song with another which the Brothers wrote themselves.
Honorable Mentions (Because Top Ten is Always difficult): “Sucker”, “Keep it Real,” “Shelf”, “That’s Just the Way We Roll,” Video Girl,” “Still in Love with You”, and many more!
While we are all in quarantine, we are all finding unique ways to keep ourselves from internal wreckage. When you’re finding yourself with no clue what to do with all this new time on your hands, pop in an old familiar movie, a mindless TV show you forgot about, or a band that you thought you could never enjoy again. Appreciation of the small, irrelevant things that bring us joy is what matters during trying times.
