Will Cady's Ego

There they are...

Roughly two weeks ago, I sat down with my esteemed colleague of The Help and fellow old-guy-in-training, Alex Gaynor to do some field research. Our goal: figure what the hell is up with The Jonas Brothers.

We put on our lab jackets and parked ourselves in front of an obnoxiously large HD television and watched roughly one hour straight of pure Jonas Brothers music videos. No breaks. No mercy.

First thing to take note of is this mere fact that there exists so much JoBros (yeah, JoBros) media that it took us an hour to watch just their music videos. To say that we hit the tip of the iceberg doesn’t even do it justice. On top of their four albums, cable television show and their 3D IMAX movie, The Jonas Brothers have made countless television appearances as guests on daytime and late-night television and most recently, as the hosts of the Teen Choice Awards. Their web presence is astounding. I Googled “Jonas Brothers” and my computer exploded. No less than five minutes later, a rep from Disney knocked on my door with a custom JoBros laptop.

Most alarming is their age: Kevin is 21, Joe is 19 and Nick is 16. No amount of talent in the world buys that much publicity at that age. There is a behemoth of a promotion machine churning behind The Jonas Brothers that is troubling on many levels. It feels inorganic and it’s hard for an awakened individual to trust it.  This is precisely the key.  They have a strangle hold on the younger generations who are yet to learn how to discern between what media they can trust and what they can’t.  As for the rest of us, many of us resent The Jonas Brothers.  When a public figure reaches such a high level of dissemination, they can’t help but become a divisive entity. People, usually the kids, love the Jonas Brothers; eating up everything sent their way or they despise them and put no trust in their talent. Regardless, we know more about them than we do our next door neighbors.  In this digital age, it seems less about our access to the Jonas Brothers and more about their access to us. Information about the JoBros is so pervasive, that so many of us know so much about them without ever having given anyone permission to tell us. It’s unprecedented.

I think it’s best if I just come out and say it. I believe that the Jonas Brothers are the one band currently in existence that has the potential to become the next Beatles.  (A prize I’m not sure I care about any more…)

The Jonas Brothers have the publicity machine grinding on all cylinders every day. They have been launched into the stratosphere on this alone. Do they release memorable, compelling music? No. Is their image contrived? Absolutely. Do they appear to have any control? Not to me. Do they have talent? Yes.

There is pandemonium following these kids that is comparable to what The Beatles had at the start in many ways. The Beatles came into the limelight as a bubble-gum pop band. Jonas Brothers, check. They had a progressive but safe image. Jonas Brothers, check. Their music was a well produced repackaging of popular music that focused on the details of love. Jonas Brothers, check.

The crucial difference is that The Beatles had creative control (with the help of George Martin). Hell, Lennon and McCartney proved to be best songwriters in the business. The important thing is that this allowed them to evolve dramatically through their career. Like many young people of the time, they set themselves on a path to open their mind. Only, they had resources and influence. Friends with LSD and airplanes. Guru’s in India. The Beatles tapped into a deep part of their existence and channeled it into their music with heart. So much heart, in fact, that with their promotional system in place, it changed the world.

As far as I can tell, The Jonas Brothers have not given us an ounce of heart thus far. However, I see something.

A brief Wikipedia search of the Jonas Brothers tells the story of their genesis, which seems to have come from the performing prowess of their youngest member, Nick:

“The band started as a solo project of Nick Jonas. At the age of 7, Nicholas began performing on Broadway. He has acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and as Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche). After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.”

Love them or hate them, that is a serious track record of work for someone who hasn’t even browsed the deodorant aisle yet. The rest of the story can summed up by saying this resume made Nick and the rest of the Jonas boys the perfect candidates for Disney’s new attraction, A Real-Life Rock Band!

Whatever talent Nick Jonas has right now, as miniscule or impressive as it may be, he is in no position to share it as he sees fit. It’s him vs. Disney on that one. However, he has already landed his 9-5 as a musician/entertainer and he’s yet to reach an age where he can represent himself in a legally binding contract. He’s got a tremendous period of mind opening in front of him. His frontal lobe hasn’t even fully developed yet. As far as we know, he doesn’t know real pain yet. He hasn’t done drugs. HE HASN’T HAD SEX.

During that hour spent in front of the television with my manhood on the line, being subjected to shot after shot of screaming tweenies wriggling for a better angle to capture the pucker-faced mugs of The Jonas Brothers on their camera phones, it was easy to become acutely aware that the Jonas Brothers are offering up very little artistically.  They don’t need to.  At this point, they wield a lot of power and plenty of room for growth, but no heart. It remains to be seen if fame and fortune from simple, test audience-approved pop music is enough to keep these kids going or better yet, enough to keep thir fans interested.  I’m not making any predictions here, I’m only expressing what I see. Next time The Jonas Brothers promotion machine runs you down and staples their image to your face, take a closer look. You may agree with what I find apparent:

Joe looks as though he is living it up as the front man of a nationally touring pop-rock band.

Kevin looks happy to be here.

Nick looks like he wants more.