I wrote this final paper for my Spring 2019 Fan Culture class at Salve. We were to choose a current trending topic that interested us, that was also related to the class. Since this was a class about fandoms, I decided to write my final paper on the Jonas Brothers, and whether or not they will make a successful comeback since announcing their reunion a few months ago.
By: Lauren O’Neil
The Jonas Brothers have recently announced their reunion after an eight year hiatus. On February 28, 2019, the Jonas Brothers twitter account released a tweet that said, “Just for you guys,” with a gif of them picking up a table, turning it around, and putting it back down. After putting the table down, a flag comes up with the words “Hello Again” on it. Confetti flies all around the short video, with the Jonas Brothers standing together, like they had done so many times from 2005 to 2013. With almost 11 million views just on that one tweet, the Jonas Brothers have officially returned, and the young teenage girls who loved them before the break-up are still as excited in their twenties as they would have been all those years ago to see them.
Formed in 2005, the Jonas Brothers are a band of three brothers from Wyckoff, New Jersey. Nick, Joe, and Kevin gained their following after having a few of their music videos feature on Disney Channel in 2006 when they were 12, 15, and 17 years old, respectively. Their albums, “It’s About Time” (2006), “A Little Bit Longer” (2008), “Jonas Brothers” (2008), “Lines, Vines, and Trying Times” (2009), “Jonas L.A.” (2010), their movies Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, Camp Rock, and two television shows, Jonas and Jonas L.A. brought in millions of fans, the median age being 16. The Disney Channel basically brought the Jonas Brothers into the light, and shaped their careers from 2006 to 2013. Did this make an impact on the band members themselves, because Disney has such strict guidelines for those associated with the company? After eight years, four albums, two television shows, a movie and countless tours, they made the decision to break up in October of 2013, in the middle of a tour. Fans were destroyed, and the band itself was not doing as well as they thought they would be, personally. The brothers realized that their familial relationships were beginning to tarnish as a result from the stress of the band duties.
Now, the Jonas Brothers are all grown up. Nick, 26, is married to Priyanka Chopra, Joe, 29, is engaged to Sophie Turner, and Kevin, 31, is married to Danielle Jonas with two young daughters, Alena and Valentina. After announcing their return to fame in late February 2019, they have released two singles. “Sucker” made it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (Trust). Before that, “Burnin’ Up” made it to No. 5 in 2008 (Trust). There are also rumors of an album release in June, and a tour in September. Since the Jonas Brothers have made such a comeback, I want to know whether or not their fan base is the same, and whether or not the fans have changed over the years, like the band itself has. By analyzing fans, interviews, and scholarly sources on band reunions, I want to find out whether or not this comeback will be similar to the Jonas Brothers’ history of wild success. My questions are these: How and why have the Jonas Brothers made a successful comeback? Do they have the same fan base or has it changed, just has the band itself changed?
Research Methods
The research methods that I used were two in-person interviews with two super fans, and an online survey of Jonas Brothers fans. I interviewed Janelle Jean, 23, and Natalia Farias, 23, both of whom are superfans of the Jonas Brothers. The survey I conducted was through surveymonkey.com, and I sent it out via Facebook, Twitter, and texted it to people I knew who were fans. I got 44 responses mostly from fans, but also responses from people who were not. The questions I asked through the survey were about age, how they found out about the Jonas Brothers, whether or not the respondents were fans from 2005-2013, and whether or not they are fans now. I also asked how big a fan respondents were on a scale of 1-10, and how big a fan they are now, still on a scale of 1-10. I then asked whether or not respondents remained a fan when the Jonas Brothers broke up, and I asked them why they were fans then and why they are fans now. I got a number of various responses, all ranging from “my kids liked them” to “their songs are SO good, Camp Rock is SO good, and Nick and Joe are SO hot.” The range of responses I received has allowed me to identify different levels of the Jonas Brothers fandom, not just the experiences of mega fans.
Apart from interviews and surveys, I decided to analyze interviews of the Jonas Brothers, and pieces they have written themselves about being a part of a band of brothers. I am also looking into scholarly sources about band reunions, like Take That and Spice Girls, who have had successful comebacks in the past years. Scholars, such as Anja Lobert and Mark Duffett, have analyzed why and how boy bands have made successful comebacks, and this has allowed me to shape my on thesis on the Jonas Brothers. By also analyzing articles written for Billboard, Bitch (the magazine), Eye Magazine, New York, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, and Entertainment Weekly, I will discover more about the fans of the Jonas Brothers, as well as the band itself and why they have decided to make a comeback.
Literature Review
Mark Duffett, an expert on popular music and media fandom, writes about four discourses, youth, exploitation, gender and fandom, that “interlock” to explain the phenomena of boy bands (Duffett 185). Duffett goes on to talk about social media and its effect on boy band fandoms, specifically “anti-fan” pages (186). Anti-fan pages are hate pages that take an “active dislike to specific media products” and, “because fans by definition love the pleasures they get from engaging with popular culture, ‘anti-fandom’ is a semantically troublesome term: since ‘anti-fans’ vocally register their dislike of texts and performers, maybe the term ‘fan’ should not be included” (Duffett 186). Anti-fans have negative viewpoints of bands, and spread that hate through pages on social media, like Facebook. According to Duffett, there are several hate pages dedicated to the Jonas Brothers on Facebook (186). He goes on to talk about other scholars who have written about the boy band phenomenon in youth, and how these young people obsessing over bands will eventually grow up. Then, he writes about how being a member of a boy band is a job first, and the members of the group come second to that job (189). Fandom, according to Duffett, is gendered, and female audiences are targeted through the looks of a boy band, their “youthful manliness” that attracts young girls to their music (192). He ends with, “the popular discourses define ahead of time what there is to talk about in relation to boy bands as a social and cultural phenomenon. Their predetermined focus tends to preclude any discussion of things that might be just as interesting to address in relation to the genre: for example historical change, racial difference, generic diversity and issues of cultural memory” (196). Duffett’s take on the boy band phenomena is that even with anti-fan pages, boy bands will continue to attract young female audiences to them because of their youth, exploitation, and appeal of a fandom.
Joe Jonas, the middle brother of the Jonas Brothers, wrote an article with Jennifer Vineyard for New York. In this article, Joe talks about growing up in the public eye, Disney Channel’s control over his family’s life, and his own personal relationship with God. He says that when they first started their band, Nick was the one who truly had an opportunity as a solo artist, at the age of 12. Joe writes, “he had to make all these big decisions about whether he wanted to be in a band or work solo or work with his brothers. Luckily, he was cool with working with us” (Jonas 50). The brothers toured anywhere that could take them, until they finally got their big break with Disney. They did a few Christmas cover songs, concerts, and Disney roller coaster openings. Joe writes, “Then we made a music video for a cover song that we initially didn’t want to do because we hadn’t written it, called ‘Year 3000,’ exclusively for Disney, which led them to start playing the song on Radio Disney and the video on Disney Channel. Before we knew it, our fan base had exploded” (Jonas 50). After writing about how the Jonas Brothers blew up into headliners, Joe then goes into talking about the control Disney had over them. He writes, “Disney is great at creating fame” (Jonas 50). Then, the Jonas Brothers got their own show on Disney. Jonas was about three brothers who were in an already-famous band. Joe writes, “But the thing about the show was that some of the writing on it was terrible… they took out the kissing scene Nick had. I had to shave every day because they wanted me to pretend like I was 16 when I was 20” (Jonas 51). The brothers went along with everything Disney had them do, even if that meant singing songs they did not want to sing, or pretending to be much younger than they were, to cater to younger Disney audiences. After a scandal came out about one of the other Disney stars, the Jonas Brothers felt the pressure. Joe writes, “We didn’t want to disappoint anyone- our parents, our fans, our employers- so we put incredible pressure on ourselves, the kind of pressure that no teenager should be under” (Jonas 50). Joe goes on to talk about how difficult it was to maintain such a perfect image while also still trying to be a normal teenager. He then talks about the first time he smoked weed, his girlfriends, and then the breakup. Joe writes, “Things came to a head when we had a meeting where we thought we were going to talk about how to release our new music and it ended up shifting into this huge fight” (Jonas 100). After that fight, the brothers realized that they needed time to sort things out, so they cancelled the tour. Joe writes about how he did not want to go on a tour with his brothers if they were not going to be happy doing it. He just wanted a good relationship with his family.
Nick Jonas, the youngest Jonas Brother, did an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where he talked about anything and everything. He answered questions about his personal life, his “new” album (this interview is from 2016), and even sex. When asked about his co-child stars, like Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez, Nick responds with, “If you want to talk about that graduating class of 2008, I’m really proud- it’s a really good group. Regardless of some of the history between us in different ways, there’s a generational strength and empowerment that we all feel” (Greenblatt 28). Nick goes on to talk about his worries of if his career was over, when the Jonas Brothers had broken up and he did not know where to go from there. Then, he decided to write his own music, and ended up having an extremely successful solo career.
Anja Lobert, an expert of media studies, writes about the different elements that contribute to the success of a boy band reunion. She focuses specifically on the reunion of Take That, and touches on the reunions of the Spice Girls and Boyzone. By analyzing these three band reunions, Lobert has concluded that the reunion, the breakup, the band history and idiosyncrasies have led to a successful reunion, specifically of Take That (Lobert 140). The reasons that they have been successful because, 1. The reunion was “explorative, rather than assumptive” (Lobert 141). 2. The reunion showed “continuity with an authenticity shift” (Lobert 141). 3. Their original split was a “framed breakup at a point of vast popularity” (Lobert 141). 4. The band’s personalities are capable of maintaining healthy relationships, and 5. A solo artist’s rise to fame “fuelled continued interest in the group” (Lobert 141). These five reasons for a successful reunion are closely related to the Jonas Brothers recent reunion.
Interviews/Survey
The Jonas Brothers, Joe, Nick and Kevin, have announced their reunion as both a band and as brothers, since their break up in 2013. In order to answer my question of whether or not fans have changed just as the Jonas Brothers have and if they will make a successful comeback, I interviewed two superfans, Janelle Jean and Natalia Farias. I knew that these women had been huge fans back in middle school, and I knew that they had stayed fans throughout the hiatus. I thought to interview them because I remember how excited they were when they found out the band was getting back together.
Janelle Jean, 23, became a Jonas Brothers fan in 2008, when she attended the Burnin’ Up Tour on August 7, 2008. After listening to their recent albums and watching their music videos on Disney Channel, Janelle had grown such a love for them that she just had to attend their concert when they came to Massachusetts. After the concert, she realized how big a fan she really was. She would listen to their music constantly, she had posters of Joe, Nick and Kevin all over her room, and she would purchase magazines with their faces on the front cover just to see if there was any new JoBro information inside that she did not already know. After attending the premiere of Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience in 2009, Janelle remembers how excited she was to experience her favorite band in concert again, but four years later, when they toured again, she could not afford tickets and was crushed that she could not go. After always keeping up with the Jonas Brothers through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, Janelle thought she knew everything about them. Surprisingly, she did not anticipate their breakup in October 2013. When asked why she was a fan of the Jonas Brothers, Janelle said, “I just remember seeing their music video for “Year 3000” on Disney Channel and falling in love. Immediately after I saw it, I just had to know more about them. I obviously loved them because of how cute they were, but my little 12 year-old self appreciated their music for just how good it was. It just made me feel good.” Janelle was also a big fan of Camp Rock, so that just solidified her love for the Jonas Brothers. Joe was her favorite, and she had pictures of him in her 7th grade locker. Natalia was the same way.
Natalia Farias remembers the first time she fell in love with the Jonas Brothers. “I saw them on Disney Channel, probably like everyone else who was a fan of them, and searched everything I could about them on YouTube. They were perfect and I have been a huge fan ever since.” Natalia became a fan in 2008, like Janelle had. Although Janelle went to their Burnin’ Up Tour in 2008, Natalia did not get to go. She did not yet have any friends that were also fans of the Jonas Brothers, and obviously could not go alone to a concert as a 12-year-old. She did not get the chance to attend a concert until the Live Tour in July of 2013, which she attended with me. We drove into Boston, listening to the Jonas Brothers the entire way, had amazing seats, and Natalia even cried when Nick sang “A Little Bit Longer.” She remembers the night perfectly; it was the first time she got to see her all-time favorite band in person. When I asked her about the specific details that she remembered about the concert we went to, she said, “I just remember how Joe walked down the center aisle right next to our seats, and I reached out and touched his arm. It was the best thing ever, I still remember it perfectly.” After this amazing experience, Natalia knew she just had to go again. She had a friend who wanted to go to their next concert, a few months later in October 2013. After getting those tickets and patiently awaiting the concert, only a week was left that they had to wait to see their favorite artists. A shock came though, when Natalia was scrolling through Twitter and saw someone had tweeted about the Jonas Brothers breaking up. “I remember seeing that tweet, and my heart almost stopped. I thought it was fake at first, just someone trying to start rumors. But then when I looked deeper into it, I found out it was true. My favorite band had broken up just one week before I was supposed to see them. How typical is that? Just my luck,” she said. Over the years and the hiatus, Natalia and Janelle have kept up with the Jonas Brothers through social media and through Nick and Joe’s solo careers. Kevin had a television show at one point, and they both watched that, but it just was not the same as all three brothers being together. They still listened to their older songs and made sure to keep track of the rumors about a reunion that occur once every year. This year though, the rumors were true: the Jonas Brothers were back.
From my survey on surveymonkey.com, I got 44 responses. After asking how old the respondents were, two were 18 years old or younger, 27 were between the ages of 19-22, 13 were aged 23-26, and two were older than 27. Next, I asked, “Were you a fan of the Jonas Brothers before they broke up in 2013?” 34 answered yes, while 10 answered no. Then, I asked if the respondents were currently a fan of the Jonas Brothers. 33 responded yes, while 11 answered no. Next, I asked, “When did you first hear of the Jonas Brothers?” I gave five options, and 33 answered, “Disney Channel- ‘Year 3000’ music video,” two answered “radio,” five chose “from a friend/school,” two chose “online,” and two chose “other,” with typed out responses of “my kids” and “Camp Rock.” For the next question, I asked, “On a scale of 1-10, how big of a fan were you from 2005-2013? (i.e. 10 = superfan).” The majority (23%) chose 7. The rest were ranged from 1-10, but 12 respondents chose the options 8-10. I then asked the same question, but instead of from 2005-2013, I asked if they were fans now. This time, 25% answered “7,” while six chose “1,” and only five chose the options 8-10. Clearly the fans who responded to my survey have not drastically changed their opinion of the band, except for a couple who are no longer fans. Next, I asked if the respondents were excited that the Jonas Brothers announced their comeback. 31 responded yes, four responded no and nine were indifferent to it. Then, I asked if respondent remained a fan when the Jonas Brothers broke up. 19 responded yes, 6 responded no, and 19 were indifferent. For the final two questions, I asked why respondents were a fan from 2005-2013, and then why they are a fan now. The majority of responses for why they were a fan from 2005-2013 were about the band’s songs, their good looks, and the influence of Camp Rock and friends who were fans. Some wrote that they were not fans originally, though. When asked why they were fans now, the majority of respondents cited nostalgia as a big reason as to why they love the band now. One response stood out to me though. It said (anonymously), “I love each individual’s growth and solo music (well not Kevin lol). My friends and I have always loved listening to throwback Jonas brothers music and now we have new stuff to listen to from them which is so Cool (no pun intended)! I think there’s something so cute and special about them being brothers so people love the band!” Although the band has grown, so have the fans. Another interesting response was, “I’ve only heard that one song. Sucker. Not a huge fan of it. Haven’t heard rest of music. I think they have changed and matured as a group so their music should also change with their growth.” Even though this person is no longer a fan, they recognize that the Jonas Brothers have grown and evolved, and I think that is interesting that they are no longer thought of as a part of the Disney Channel.
The responses I got from my survey are very telling. Clearly, some fans of the band have not stayed with them, but from what I gathered, those who are no longer fans were never huge fans of the Jonas Brothers in the first place. The fans that have stuck with them were mega fans back from 2005-2013, and have stayed fans of the band throughout their six-year hiatus and now into their much-awaited reunion. A respondent from the survey said, “The band has changed due to the natural aging process, but they are attempting to get the same pop beats as before and I dig that.” I think this is interesting, even though the band has clearly aged and has recently made music that is different to their original sound, “Sucker” and “Cool,” they have still managed to keep their fan base, and even expanded it to new people with their change in sound.
The interviews I did gave me a new perspective into the Jonas Brothers fandom. Clearly, these fans have grown up, but so have the Jonas Brothers. As the superfans got older, so did the brothers. They kept track of their lives, and made sure to keep updated on them through social media and their solo careers. They have followed them for years, making sure that they are up-to-date on what they are doing, and have made an effort to stay fans of the Jonas Brothers even now, when they are much older and are making different music than they had before.
Analysis
The idea of nostalgia is clearly associated with this band, as so many of the people I surveyed and interviewed cited it as one of the main reasons they still love the band. A respondent from the survey said, “I think I like them for the nostalgia factor but the music is still great. Just more grown up but so is the fan base.” Janelle and Natalia also talked about the nostalgia factor in depth. They both remember having such a good time whenever they listened to the Jonas Brothers, and would listen to them or watch their music videos whenever they were feeling sad or feeling like they just needed to forget about something bad that happened that day.
Natalia said, “I think I still love them as much as I did in middle school because it reminds me of such a happy time in my life. I would dance around my room, that was full of posters of the Jonas Brothers, listening to their music and jamming out to ‘Year 3000’ and ‘Hold On.’ I just remember having such a good time whenever I listened to them, or read about them in a magazine.”
Although both Janelle and Natalia associate the Jonas Brothers with happy moments in their tween and teen years, they both mentioned something interesting. They were bullied for liking the Jonas Brothers in middle school. Janelle said, “I loved them so much, and for some reason, liking a band that was associated with Disney Channel was lame, and it was a reason for someone to make fun of you.” Both Natalia and Janelle were made fun of for liking the Jonas Brothers, just because they listened to their music and had pictures of them in their lockers. This leads me to the idea of “bandwagon bullies,” a term that Natalia used to describe the people who made fun of her for liking the Jonas Brothers back from 2005-2013, but are now jumping on the bandwagon of today’s Jonas Brothers fans. She said, “I think it’s funny that the same people who bullied me for liking the Jonas Brothers are the same people who are posting on Twitter how excited they are that they’re back. Like, were they not good enough for you when they were on the Disney Channel? Now they are cool because they’re older?” I think this is interesting and leads to a bigger question. Are today’s Jonas Brothers fans split into two parts? Original superfans and bandwagon bullies?
Anja Lobert’s analysis of boy band reunions is really interesting to me, because all five reasons for a successful reunion tie directly into the Jonas Brothers’ reunion. The reunion is explorative, meaning that they do not fully expect to be successful, they are doing this for their fans. There is continuity with an authenticity shift, meaning that they are the same band, but now they are just not associated with Disney Channel, and have shifted their style to what they feel is original to them as a band. Their breakup was at a vast point of popularity, and it was devastating to fans. The Jonas Brothers are also clearly capable of maintaining a healthy relationship in the band, because they are brothers and have since worked out their differences since they split. Lastly, Joe and Nick’s solo careers have kept the attention of fans, and have kept them relevant over the years since the band was broken up (Lobert 141).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Jonas Brothers have made a successful comeback, despite the fact that they have not yet released an album. They have teased a tour recently, and fans are going crazy about it. Even with the two songs they have released, they have already done better than the majority of the songs they released back between 2005 and 2013. Because of the fact that the Jonas Brothers emit a feeling of nostalgia in their fans, and bringing in new fans with their new music, they have clearly grown their fan base. Has the fan base changed as well as the band? Through my interviews, survey, and research on boy band reunions, I believe that yes, the fans have changed, but I think it is for the better. The idea of “bandwagon bullies” rings true here, because yes, these new fans used to make fun of the original Jonas Brothers fans, but the band has clearly made an impact on these “bandwagon bullies” enough to make them change their opinion of the band.
Bibliography
Duffett, Mark. “Multiple damnations: deconstructing the critical response to boy band phenomena.” Popular Music History, Equinox Publishing, 2013, pp. 185-197.
Fuentes, Tamara and Carolyn Twersky. “Everything We Know About the Jonas Brothers Reunion.” Seventeen, 22 Apr, 2019, https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/music/a26408288/jonas-brothers-reunion-2019/
Greenblatt, Leah. “Wet Hot American Pop Star.” Entertainment Weekly, summer issue 2016, pp. 26-31.
Jonas, Joe and Jennifer Vineyard. “My Life as a Jonas Brother; The real, PG-13ish version.” New York, 9 Dec. 2013, pp. 48-100.
Lobert, Anja. “Explorative, authentic and cohesive: factors contributing to successful boy band reunions.” Popular Music History, Equinox Publishing, 2013, pp. 128-142.
Reed, Ryan. “Jonas Brothers Confirm Reunion, Plan First New Music in Six Years.” Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2019, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jonas-brothers-reunion-new-music-sucker-late-late-show-801382/
Trust, Gary. “Jonas Brothers Notch First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 as ‘Sucker’ Blasts In On Top.” Billboard, 11 Mar. 2019, https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8501890/jonas-brothers-sucker-no-1-hot-100
Lauren O'Neil 