Had you spoken to me anytime between 2008 and 2011, I would have probably
wormed into conversation something about the Jonas Brothers. How many days
it was until their next tour started, or whatever gossip I’d just read online, or
how I met Nick Jonas in London (to be honest, I still bring that humble brag up
now.) I’m thankful for the friends that stuck around from that period, because
honestly, I must have been really fucking boring if you weren’t as equally
interested in three American fellas. Regardless, I had some of the most exciting
and fun memories as a fangirl – that nostalgia trip was what made it so exciting
when they announced their reunion this year, breaking back into pop with
Sucker. (Stream it, it’s really good, no I’m not biased.)
This reunion has been so exciting partly due to the circumstances behind their
hiatus. They cancelled a tour and an album release in 2013 citing a rift – but
they’d been so quiet for a few years that it didn’t feel that unlikely or surprising.
Most of the fans I knew had long took their posters down and replaced their Top
Played songs naturally, and while it was sad that a chapter of my adolescence
had gone, it wasn’t the end of the known universe it would have been had they
folded two years prior. It always felt like there was unfinished business with the
Jonas Brothers, and this new slate makes me wonder if there’ll be a newer
generation of fans emerging in the way that other pop reunions like Take That
or Busted didn’t necessarily generate.
The same hysteria that surrounded their first incarnation is unlikely to return –
the Jonas Brothers existed before One Direction mania, and even Justin Bieber
only became famous once they were already established (God bless the ‘JB =
Jonas Brothers not Justin Bieber’ initial wars on Twitter. It was a dark place.)
Fans found other outlets to fangirl over, and for most of us, we’re at least in our
twenties now. I frankly can’t be arsed queuing up for ten hours before a concert
to maybe see their bus turn up, or sit outside a radio station in the rain to
possibly see them get ushered out by a security guard! It was so fun while it
lasted, but in all honesty, the excitement wears a different face now – for me,
anyway.
I’m more excited about going to dance along to their tunes for a few
hours at the gig, enjoy myself, and then probably go out in town afterwards.
There will be some marked differences this time around – when they finally get
around to announcing European dates. I won’t have to beg my ma for tickets,
justifying them as early Christmas/birthday gifts, as I earn my own dollar now.
There will probably be alcohol involved – although the dancing probably
wouldn’t have been much better, anyway, sober. I’ll probably go with different
friends, but I’m sure I’ll still know people there – while a lot of the people I met
through tours and the official fan club (I know) now live normal lives on social
media, posting photos of their meals and dogs like the rest of us, I’m sure they’ll
too return back to being fourteen and will take a step back in time, too.
This time around there’ll be less ‘writing their name on my face in eyeliner’ and
less ‘weird articles where I’m named in the New York Times’ (that actually
happened) and more ‘civilised enough nights out’ and ‘probably still spending a
stupid amount of money, but at least it’s my own doing this time’. I really am
genuinely excited for their comeback, and it still is exciting. But it can never be as all consuming as it was the first time, lest I dropped out of life and spent all my
time watching their videos on YouTube again. I’m looking forward to the new
fans experiencing a fun day out, and I’m looking forward to being able to turn
down invitations saying ‘sorry, I can’t do that night. I’m off to see the Jonas
Brothers.’
[Amy Shimmin – @amylfc]
[Photo credit: @jonasbrothers]
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