Are You Ready For Jonas-Mania?

So the question is, are you ready for Jonas-Mania?

If you have daughters, sisters, or possibly even wives and mothers, then you no doubt are already aware that today is J-Day. Which is a shorter way of saying that teen-pop sensations The Jonas Brothers new album A Little Bit Longer is now out in stores and online. Which again begs the question, are you ready for Jonas-Mania?

The squeaky clean band of born-again Christian brothers Nick, Joe and Kevin have enjoyed a meteoric rise in just this past year. Monday night they headlined a sold-out show at New York’s Madison Square Garden, just one of many stops on a likewise sold-out tour (their first as headliners). Two weeks ago, they graced the cover of Rolling Stone. Last Friday they had em’ lined up around the block for a 7 A.M. appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America. It’s been a dizzying ride to the top indeed for the teen-pop phenoms, who just last year were opening shows for fellow teen-pop idol Miley Cyrus.

But here’s the weirdest part. The Jonas Brothers are actually kinda’ good. And they want to be taken seriously as a band. To that effect, they give it a hell of a college try on the new A Little Bit Longer album.

They write (or at least co-write) all of their own songs, most of which fall squarely into the bright sounding power-pop category. But on a few of them, such as “Tonight” and “One Man Show” they actually cut loose and rock out a bit. They also occasionally tackle subjects a little deeper than you’d expect, such as on the title track, where Jonas Brother Nick waxes lyrical about his struggle with Type 1 diabetes. On another song called “Video Girl,” they even get into the seemingly taboo subject of groupies.

Elsewhere, the album never strays too far from power pop territory – these guys are clearly aware of just which side of the bread is where the butter goes. But there are still a few unexpected, and not at all unpleasant sounding surprises, such as the Beatles-esque “Lovebug” and the borderline funk groove of “Burnin’ Up.”

It’s not exactly music that is going to take over the world (oh, wait a second, it already has). But as harmless and innocuous sounding pop music goes, the Jonas Brothers actually aren’t that bad – at least not on a strictly guilty pleasure sort of level. I won’t tell if you won’t…


RELATED: jonas brothers, miley cyrus

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