Chasing Happiness (2019) - full transcript
A behind-the-scenes look at the life and work of The Jonas Brothers as they prepare their first album in six years.
-[lock opens]
-[man shouting]
[pounding on door]
NICK: Before we kind of step
into this again,
I think there's a lot that we
probably could discuss
about the ways the old Jonas
years worked--
-[girls screaming]
-[fingers screeching on window]
...and how even the three
of us felt about
the way things
were supposed to be.
[crowd screaming]
And that fear that
everything would go away--
[crowd screaming]
...at any minute.
To do this the right way,
we need to make sure everyone
feels comfortable...
and just focus
on being brothers.
[crowd cheering]
-Hey.
-Hey.
-It was a good one.
-Hey!
And probably stop
looking at it through
rose colored glasses too.
Actually have an open
conversation about it.
Yeah.
Like, some things
just won't work.
Like what?
I don't know yet.
I haven't figured it out.
I think just having that open
dialogue instead of rehearsals
being like,
"This is what it's gonna be."
What are you really saying?
I don't understand.
Building a set list--
-I'm saying I will do that.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah, that's what I'm--
-Okay, sorry.
I'm a little tired.
I'm trying.
I think you're afraid
to be confrontational.
I mean, it's fine.
No, not at all.
I'm not at all.
-Um...
-[chuckles]
Begin.
-[laughter]
-Fight!
♪♪
♪ Nights flying down 10 ♪
♪ Nearly 2 a.m. ♪
♪ Happiness begins ♪
♪ Days lifted in a haze ♪
♪ We were just a phase ♪
♪ We were just pretend ♪
♪ I remember no lows
and highs ♪
♪ We threw our hands up ♪
♪ Palms out to the skies ♪
♪ It was fun
when we were young ♪
♪ And now we're older ♪
♪ Those days around the world,
they seem to glow now ♪
♪ We were up and down
and barely made it over ♪
♪ But I'd go back and ride
that roller coaster ♪
♪ It was fun
when we were young ♪
♪ And now we're older ♪
♪ Those days when we
were broke in California ♪
♪ We were up and down
and barely made it over ♪
♪ But I'd go back and
ride that roller coaster ♪
♪ With you ♪
NICK:
Someone asked me the other day
if I had unfinished business
with anyone or anything
in your life
and you had a chance
to handle it before you died,
what would it be, and...
-Hello.
-What's up, man?
-What's up, dude?
-[bag clatters]
-How you doing?
-Love you. Love you, man.
-Love you too. Missed you.
-Welcome to Australia.
I need a coffee and a mimosa,
and I'll be good to go.
Okay, yeah.
Well, let's get you sorted.
KEVIN: It had been nearly
six years since we had spent
time together...
just the three of us
as brothers.
Holy shit!
[laughing]
How'd they get
you out of America?
This is impressive.
-It is impressive.
-[laughing]
Good to see you.
You're actually surprised.
-I am surprised.
-Yeah, man.
I jetted right after
the recital.
KEVIN: In order to move
forward together,
we had to revisit our past.
JOE: Welcome to Oz, Kev.
This is what Australia's
all about.
KEVIN:
Cool. Welcome.
-Happy meeting, boys.
-Cheers.
Have you liked being here, Joe?
It speaks for itself,
I think.
And I feel real lucky
to be able to, like,
call this a second home now.
I often wonder
how it happened.
What?
All of it. Us.
You know how many people
in similar situations to what
we all went through together
can't even stand to be
in the same room?
I mean, we were not
supposed to
get out of Jersey.
-No.
-[chuckles]
You know what I mean?
[chattering, indistinct]
Welcome to the Jonas family--
[stammering]
-Ready?
-[stammering]
Welcome to the Jonas family
household. This is our life.
DENISE:
Oh, here we go. Hi!
NICK: From the beginning,
my brothers and I
were always very close.
We did love doing
everything together.
Wrestling, backyard sports.
Every vacation.
JOE:
Most of time we would just
run around the neighborhood.
We didn't really grow up with,
like, a lot of family around.
There were friends
with my parents,
musicians, singers,
people that they knew.
Other than that,
it was kind of just us.
We had a really
tight-knit family.
We became each other's
best friends.
[singing note]
GRANDFATHER:
Hold that note! Hold it!
NICK: From an early age,
it was kind of like
the Von Trapp family.
♪♪
What are you doing?
Get out of here.
NICK:
Music was just always there.
GRANDFATHER:
Man, you playing that guitar.
Where you learn how
to play like that, Nicholas?
In our household, it wasn't
"No singin' at the table."
It was encouraged
to sing at the table.
GRANDFATHER:
This is my grandson's stage.
Very talented young man.
He got a piano.
He's got a guitar.
Look at that guitar there, man.
Wow! And where is he?
KEVIN SR.:
Nick was three years old,
and he's walking down the hall.
GRANDFATHER:
...bring to the stage Nicholas!
KEVIN SR.:
And he hit kind of a bum note.
♪ La-la, la-la, la ♪
And he went--
And he backed up,
rewound himself.
Started walking--
♪ La-la, la-la, la ♪
And he smiled.
Kept walking.
And I turned around
to my wife, and I went,
"Did you see that?"
♪♪
We immediately went
into his room...
took out the lullabies,
threw them away.
Put in Stevie Wonder's
"Definitive Collection."
♪♪ ["Superstition"]
NICK:
I remember I was with my mom
at a hair salon in Jersey.
I was about six.
Just hanging out and singing.
The woman next to my mom
leaned over and said,
"My son is on Broadway
right now
"doing 'Les Mis.'
Your son could do it."
DENISE: Nick looks at me
and says, "Mom, I'm gonna
be on Broadway."
And then he told us what shows
he was going to be in.
I was like, "Who is this kid?"
♪ I'll get you,
I'm Captain Hook ♪
♪ King of the island,
cheapest crook ♪
♪ Only one enemy
do I know ♪
♪ Peter Pan,
my cheapest foe ♪
♪ Aha, aha ♪
♪ Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ♪
When I auditioned for
"A Christmas Carol,"
and I started working.
It was the first time I really
felt like I belonged somewhere.
He was kind of the first
to try at this,
and he had this confidence
that he could just go
and sing in front of people.
It came natural for him.
NICK: I loved being around
kids who were like me
that liked to sing
and dance and act.
All these adults, too,
that were so kind
and so different to
any people that I'd met.
JOE: Think I was probably
a little bit envious,
somewhat jealous.
There was always competition
as brothers.
I mean, that was just natural.
Whether it was who could do
the most flips on the trampoline
to who can sing
the highest or lowest.
So looking up on stage
and seeing Nick
getting this attention,
I remember saying
to my parents,
I think I want
to start auditioning.
GRANDFATHER:
Joseph! What are you doing?
He was suddenly becoming
this comical person.
like, all the time.
GRANDFATHER:
What? Hold on!
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Joe was just kind of
a goofball.
Dude! Cool! Yeah!
JOE:
I wanted to be an actor.
I wanted to be a comedian.
Definitely was doing standup
comedy in the basement.
Here's Joseph Jonas. Whoo!
JOE: I remember making, like,
a fake talk show at night.
He wanted to be on "All That,"
the variety show on Nickelodeon.
[vocalizing]
JOE:
The first show I was in
was "Oliver."
It was an off Broadway
production.
Really opened me up as
a singer and performer.
And being on stage and
hearing the reactions,
it felt great.
I knew that this was
where I was supposed to be.
MAN: Action.
"76 Trombones."
♪ 76 trombones
led the big parade ♪
Growing up, I always did kind of
odd extracurricular activities.
You know, whether
it was gymnastics,
pole vaulting,
magic.
KEVIN SR.: Good one!
KEVIN: Those are not
the most popular things
that young boys
would see as cool.
And also, we didn't
have money at all.
My clothes were
just was what it was.
I became a target.
Kids are cruel at that age.
They would call me gay,
they'd call me fag,
they would, you know,
call me pisshead.
It would break me down.
I remember coming home
from school,
and like crying
to my parents.
But I think what was
really hard was...
I never felt like I could
find the place that I fit in.
Even though I had things
I loved,
I just never felt like
I connected with anyone truly.
I found my other avenues.
Pop in the E-Brain CD,
and you can choose from
eight different menus!
KEVIN SR.:
Kevin started doing commercials
KEVIN:
I started getting booked
right away.
-[belch]
-[laughing]
It was kind of
a crazy season
where their talent started
opening up opportunities.
We had Joe and Nick
in Broadway shows and
Kevin doing commercials.
♪♪ [piano]
NICK: We lived 45 minutes
from New York City.
My mom had given birth
to Frankie
and was driving me
to the city most days.
Hours and hours in the car.
Seven days a week.
Just a lot.
Especially with
a newborn child.
Sometimes my dad
would do a shift.
On the way home,
he said,
"Try writing something."
So we'd start writing songs
on the way home
from the Broadway shows.
Eventually, we sat down
at the piano
and properly wrote a song.
♪♪
♪ When I'm lost ♪
♪ And I just
can't find my way ♪
-♪ There you are-- ♪
-Wait, wait.
Nick and my dad write this
song, "Joy to the World:
A Christmas Prayer."
And they put it on a CD.
♪♪
Somehow that CD ends up
with David Massey...
at Sony.
I first met Nicholas Jonas
as he was then
as a ten year old.
♪ What I know you wanna see ♪
♪ That I can hold on
through these trials ♪
♪ But I need you
to leave this love ♪
♪ Because I can't take it
no more ♪
He was an amazing singer.
He was really naturally
charismatic.
♪ So I can dance now ♪
His voice even then was
absolutely undeniable.
♪ Thank you, yeah ♪
You could already tell at 10
he was just that guy.
I actually signed him
then and there.
[applause]
[truck approaching]
Kevin and I started
to feel like, wow, like,
he's actually doing it.
We started to kind of
write on our own.
And me Joe and Nick were
in our little room,
and we played guitar
together just for fun.
KEVIN: And we're playing
around, it goes--
♪ They come and go ♪
♪ But they don't know ♪
♪ That you are my beautiful ♪
We wrote a song called
"Please Be Mine."
♪ I'll be there forever ♪
The song just, like, literally
wrote itself in 10 minutes.
♪ Our hopes
and our dreams ♪
I think that was the moment
we all looked at each other
and were like,
"This could be something."
Very few feelings in my life
as sure...
as that.
♪ For you ♪
♪ Till the end ♪
♪ The end of time ♪
♪ Please be mine ♪
And then Nick wanted me
to meet his brothers.
-Such a sweet place.
-There's a huge fish in here.
DAVID:
They came into the office,
they told me they had
written a song
called "Please Be Mine,"
and they stood in
a semi-circle,
I'll never forget it,
and sang me this great song,
and I was blown away
by their chemistry
together as brothers.
Then I added the other
two brothers to the mix
and the Jonas Brothers
was born.
KEVIN: I was in high school
at this point--
Why are you following me?
...and I was so excited.
But I wasn't allowed
to tell anyone
that we were signed,
because my dad was
the pastor of a church.
♪♪
Doubt in yourself
and doubt in your god will
keep you from your destiny.
[applause]
KEVIN:
We didn't tell anyone
at the church at the time,
'cause we didn't want my dad
to lose his job potentially.
We were signed
to a secular label,
and we weren't making
a Christian album.
We lived two doors down
from the church.
And we were there
pretty much every day.
It was a humongous part
of our life.
DENISE: The community
we lived in in Wyckoff,
it was amazing.
Always friendly.
And we were so happy
to be there.
JOE: All of our friends
were the kids that went
to this church,
and they were a part
of the family.
The way we saw it was our dad
went on stage every Sunday,
and it was like this big thing.
[applause]
[overlapping chatter]
NICK:
There were people
in the church all the time,
people that really needed
that place.
You could feel they expected
a lot of my dad.
Being the pastor's family,
you're kind of a first family
in a sense of the church.
There was a lot of
responsibility on us...
and also a lot of eyeballs.
There's a pressure
to be the example.
Everything should always look
like we're this perfect family,
and nothing's ever wrong.
As a kid, it was hard
to understand that,
like, there's no way that
doesn't affect the family.
[overlapping chatter]
That's not your pitch.
-One, two--
-Look at him.
Hold on.
Let me get my composure.
One, two, three, four.
♪♪ [singing tones]
JOE:
Overnight, we're a band.
It wasn't something that we,
like, sat around for years
or months and started
writing music
and then presented
this stuff to anyone.
We had to figure out who we were
and what we were creating.
♪ Wouldn't it be nice
if I had some tissues ♪
♪ Wipe away the tears ♪
♪ That's right
you've got issues ♪
We weren't great writers,
obviously, at the time.
And we were in--
We were kids.
But we were trying hard.
♪ 'Cause you love me ♪
♪ And I hate you ♪
♪ I'm right, you're wrong ♪
♪ Move on ♪
The first day I met
the Jonas Brothers,
you just could feel that
this was something unique.
It was less about how
amazing they sounded,
and it was just more
about a connection
between the three of them.
I just remember thinking
there's something so special
about this family.
NICK: The label had
a vision that we would be
a punk rock band.
One of the fundamental issues
selling the Jonas Brothers
as a rock band is that we--
we were not
a rock band at all.
Okay, you guys ready?
I gotta go to the bathroom.
Sorry.
The idea was, we're gonna
put together a band.
♪♪
We spent a lot of time
at SIR in New York,
nonstop rehearsals
all day long.
♪♪
To me, that was
the ultimate band camp.
We were just there every day
perfecting three or four songs.
We were there 12-hour days,
six days a week,
every day but Sunday.
It was a crash course
in how to do rock and roll.
♪♪ [singing indistinctly]
People have this in their
mind that the Brothers was
manufactured by some machine
at Disney World.
Put in, like, a bunch of kids
with moppy hair and guitars
in their hands,
and, like, we came out.
-Good morning, Kevin.
-Good morning.
Today's the big day.
What's the special day?
Today is my 18th birthday.
It's a good day.
We're going to the show,
and then we're driving back
to Jersey.
JOHN TAYLOR: It's really easy
to look at the Jonas Brothers
and just think,
"Oh, they were
this huge thing."
But there was, like,
two years of tried and true,
like, rock and roll
cutting your teeth.
KEVIN: We were starting to play
little shows here and there
around, like Jersey, Boston.
GREG:
We would wake up at 4 a.m.
and then start loading gear.
It felt like we were
a real band.
♪♪
KEVIN: We're were doing
two shows a day.
We'd wake up at the crack of
dawn and do a school assembly,
and then later play a club.
We had equipment and suitcases
and sleeping bags on the floor.
And on a long road trip,
we'd be actually really excited.
We're in Boston,
about to do the concert.
It's gonna be so awesome.
We're really excited.
So we're getting
the big mama out.
This is the big mama.
GREG: We'd be fully set up,
ready to go, before school
started.
So we would be ready
by about 8 a.m.
♪♪
It was awesome, 'cause we
would win those kids over
by the end of every assembly.
KEVIN:
We would drive all
the way to Boston,
do the show in Boston,
drive all the way home,
to then drive back to
Connecticut the next day,
because the gas money was
cheaper than buying a hotel
and we couldn't afford both.
♪♪
[cheering]
JOE: We didn't look at it
as, like, roughing it.
You look at it as,
like, we're doing it.
We're living our dream.
Once upon a time,
there were three brothers
who all love music.
Even more, they love making
music together,
and now they're living
the rock star dream.
Please welcome
the Jonas Brothers.
♪♪
KEVIN: The numbers at the show
were starting to grow.
It went from, like, 50 people,
all of a sudden to,
like, 200 people.
♪ Mandy used to be that girl ♪
♪ The one that
never said a word ♪
♪ But she only sang
S Club 7 ♪
♪ And all those boy bands ♪
When you saw them play,
there was no question about it.
There was some chemistry there
that you hadn't seen before.
And their success came from
hard work. It wasn't luck.
♪ Mandy always laughs
when I act stupid ♪
♪ I am unaware
that I'm a nuisance ♪
♪ With her
it's never wasted time ♪
NICK:
There was a spark about it.
It was evident to everybody.
And then it started to bubble.
These guys hail from right
across the river in New Jersey,
and they're about to take
the world by storm.
TRL, show some love
for the Jonas Brothers.
[cheering]
KEVIN:
Out of nowhere,
the "Mandy" video becomes
the number one song on TRL.
You walked down the hallway,
and there was fans
waiting for you outside.
That was it.
You see retirement
after that.
♪ Nick J. is off the chain ♪
♪ America, feel his name ♪
♪ Nick J. is off the chain ♪
GREG GARBOWSKY:
It's important to remember
that at this time,
Nick is very, very much
the leader of this group.
♪ What's my name?
Say it once again ♪
♪ Nick J., Nick J.,
Nick J., Nick J. ♪
That year saw a lot of change.
Nick started getting
a little more moody.
We were hearing from
a couple of the band members
that his personality
was getting...
direct, uh, more agitated.
GREG GARBOWSKY:
He would demand that
we would pull over
and get pizza and Diet Coke.
And he would say,
"I need it."
KEVIN:
Every time we would stop,
Nick would get this
massive Big Gulp.
NICK:
Drinking a ton of water.
KEVIN:
Like, so much liquid.
KEVIN SR.:
The band members,
they were a little concerned,
he was really thirsty.
JOE: We would stop
every 15 minutes
'cause Nick
really had to pee,
and it was like
a running joke.
GREG GARBOWSKY:
We would pull out on the side
of the turnpike in New Jersey,
he would run into the woods
and pee and then hop back in,
and then two miles later
we'd have to pull over again.
KEVIN:
One day, me, Joe and Nick
are all sharing a room,
and Nick is changing.
I looked at him
and I could see
every single bone
in his body.
NICK:
I look in the mirror
and I'm like a skeleton.
Feel like I'm dying.
I wouldn't see Nick
for 10 days sometimes.
Every time he'd come home,
he was little bit more thin.
JOE:
I, like, went to my parents
and I was crying,
and said,
"Something's wrong with Nick,
like, we have to go--
bring him to the doctor."
NICK:
My pediatrician looks at me,
and I tell her the symptoms.
She starts to tear up
and I get kind of concerned,
and says don't go home,
don't pack a bag,
just go straight to
the hospital.
She's like...
you have diabetes and...
he asked if he was gonna die.
I had dealt with people
in church life
that had diabetes.
I forgot everything I knew.
It's just this amazing thing
when it comes to your own kids
or your family.
And we all started crying.
I passed out in
the hospital room
because I couldn't see him,
like, all hooked up to
these wires,
and it was like a really...
life-shifting moment
for everybody.
DENISE JONAS:
Nick as we had known him--
happy, smiling...
smiling...
singing at the top of his
lungs when he wakes up--
he was different after that.
We were worried for him,
but there was also
professional concern.
We actually had a show,
and we didn't know,
should we cancel
the show or not,
all the executives from Sony
were gonna be there.
I got out of the hospital
and we said,
let's not tell the label,
'cause it'll make 'em think,
uh, he won't be able to work.
You don't want to give a label
an excuse to drop you,
which would have been
the lowest thing
anybody could have done,
but... it's a crazy business.
And Nick said,
"Get outta my way.
We're doing a show,
and we're gonna kill it."
And he went from
the hospital to the stage,
and the three of them
just rocked it.
MAN: So, Nick, man,
where we goin'?
We are going to
the heart of Boston.
Gonna go to some cool places.
Last time we came here to do,
like, the school shows,
I was sick, so I couldn't
go out with the guys,
but this time I'm going out.
Gonna be awesome.
♪♪
I haven't been back to Wyckoff
in, I think, about 10 years.
It's about
the same for me,
-maybe-- maybe more.
-Maybe more, yeah.
-Twelve years?
-Wow.
New Jersey.
It gets a bad rap,
but it really is beautiful.
This is, like,
kind of where it all
started for us out here.
Like anybody's story,
the good, the bad and the ugly,
so I think there's like a--
a mix of emotions
that we'll all be
feeling today.
♪♪
-Oh, shit. There it is.
-Holy shit!
-There it is.
-Wow.
Let's go check it out.
KEVIN: Hold on, Joe,
wait for the cameras.
They'll follow.
Come on.
KEVIN: They're not even
close to being ready.
Whatever.
I want to see it, too.
I'm not just here to, like,
be filmed.
Oh, my God.
So crazy.
Weird, man.
[traffic noise]
♪♪
This is so trippy.
It's at a complete standstill.
Frozen in time.
We haven't been back
in so long.
We wrote "Please Be Mine"
in that living room
right there.
Where that window is,
with the red curtain.
I mean, it's even trippier
'cause there's, like,
nothing's changed
about the house at all.
-Yeah.
-Feels like we would just
walk back in there
and be six years--
seven years old.
There's a lot of
firsts for us here.
First song.
First hospital visit.
Mom and Dad got pregnant
with Frankie there.
-Whoa...
-That church.
♪♪
This is, like,
the first place I sang.
It was at the church, yeah.
I played on the worship team
here every Sunday.
We were here
every single day.
Should we go in or--
-No.
-MAN: Go inside.
-We could go underneath--
-No.
So...
Let's-- Let's go.
KEVIN: Things began to shift
in the church.
That became
really challenging.
Once we started doing
our own thing in music,
there were people starting to
speak about our dad
in-- in a negative way.
There was this perception
that was put on us
that we were
supposed to be these
squeaky clean, perfect kids.
Dad's job
essentially hinged on it.
NICK: I think that there was
some judgment on us
for not being
a Christian band.
Singing about girls
started to become
a bit of an issue.
JOE:
There was so much going on
that our dad and mom
never told us.
I think in their minds
they were protecting us,
but for us as kids,
it just was scary.
NICK: I just remember my dad
being so stressed out.
I started to realize our dream
that we were chasing
freaked a lot of people out
in the church.
You know, that's a totally
different lifestyle,
than I think they expected
a pastor's son to be in.
KEVIN: And they just
started a whole platform
to kind of get my dad removed.
KEVIN SR.:
The day I resigned at Wyckoff
was really... devastating.
I couldn't even read
my resignation letter.
But I made the mistake of
thinking that was just me,
uh, that was hurting.
JOE: I'll never forget,
my parents spoke to us,
it was, like,
we're leaving the church,
that means we're
leaving the house,
and Columbia's decided to
not work with you anymore,
to drop you.
I remember feeling, like,
scared and worried.
That was like the world
was crashing on us.
We couldn't believe it.
NICK: For me, it became
really, really tough.
These people that
we had invested
so much of our time
and life,
and especially my parents.
Really disappointing.
JOHN TAYLOR:
It was like a really
brutal blow to them.
Their whole community
kind of wasn't there anymore.
KEVIN:
My dad at this point
had put $90,000
of his life savings--
essentially our college fund--
into the band.
Maxed out his credit cards,
and had no money,
like, we were done.
It hit when we were
already at a low,
and took us even lower.
DENISE JONAS:
We lost our home.
We lost our friends
and our social life.
Everything they knew for
10 years of their life, gone.
NICK:
I mean, it's sort of...
perfect.
JOE: It's really trippy.
I mean, literally,
30 minutes ago
we were crunching ice cream
outside Dairy Queen
-in the sunlight.
-JOE: Yeah, like it's sunny--
like, July 3rd,
all American day.
And then it was just, like--
And this is our old church.
-[imitates thunder]
-Fire and brimstone.
NICK: This may sound
a certain way, I don't know,
but it's weird that
we go to a place where
we're not accepted.
Like, there's two buildings
in the world that I can think of
where we're told, no,
you may not enter.
It's, like,
the house we grew up in,
and the church
that we helped...
build, you know?
♪♪
KEVIN: Then we leave the church
and we go to this house
in Little Falls.
The chief of police of our town
was so gracious to us,
and rented this house to us
for nothing.
Because we didn't have
an income anymore.
We were playing roulette,
you know, on the boys.
KEVIN:
Four boys in one bedroom,
my parents in the other.
JOE:
The Little Falls house
felt like we were trapped.
We were dealing with
so much at once.
It was overwhelming.
Our parents were fighting,
like, every day.
I constantly wanted to
get out of that house,
to get out of the vibe.
JOHN TAYLOR:
Joe is naturally, like,
a really sensitive,
caring type of person.
I remember when Kevin Sr.
was talking to us about,
"We hope you stick around
for the ride,"
and Joe was
looking at us, like,
"Please stay with us."
He was worried that
we were gonna be upset.
And it's, like,
I'm just a dude with a gig,
and maybe I can
go get another one.
Like, I haven't poured my
entire life into this thing,
my identity like you have.
But he didn't
think of it that way.
It was, like,
is everyone gonna be okay?
Are we all gonna
make it together?
[indistinct chatter]
JOE: Having the pressure
to go out there
and tour to make money
became a different reality
setting in, like,
we have to do this
so we can survive,
rather than this
just being, like...
we were out there doin' it
when it was like
free and fun.
And that's a lot of pressure
for somebody that age.
Everything was a mess.
The label shut you down,
you're trying to do it
on your own,
you're spending
a lot of money.
It was going to be difficult.
KEVIN:
Uh, we're playin' in the mall,
super early,
none of the stores are open,
and we are getting booed by
the old people
that are walking around.
-MAN: Senior citizens.
-Senior citizens.
KEVIN: The band
at a certain point was, like,
"Hey, are we gonna
get paid this week?"
And it was, like, "Okay,
I'll-- I'll get it covered."
And then it was
the next week.
It was getting really tight.
♪♪ [guitar]
NICK:
The great part about, like,
being a young person
writing music,
is that everything is the most
important thing in the world.
Okay, one more time.
♪♪
NICK: We wrote a bunch
of songs in that house
out of the pain and the hurt
and the abandonment.
KEVIN:
After we got dropped from Sony,
we wrote the entire
Jonas Brothers Album
in the basement of that house.
I think we felt that
people didn't believe in us,
so we were gonna
prove 'em wrong.
♪♪
JOE:
And then we got a phone call
from Disney,
they were, like,
"We know you need something.
"Well, we have it.
We're gonna hand you
a record deal."
Yeah, boy!
And at that time,
it was a huge opportunity.
But for us, it really meant
we're getting out of
Little Falls.
PHIL MCINTYRE:
We went from working with
a company that didn't
understand teens,
to having an opportunity
with a company that
specifically spoke to
that audience.
To us, it was a no-brainer.
KEVIN: So pretty.
We're in L.A., boys.
JOE:
Where's the Hollywood sign?
Is it around here?
NICK: Kind of felt like
we had a second chance.
Like we were given
another go at the plate,
to try and hit the ball
out of the park.
Okay, go!
[laughing]
NICK: When we got to
Hollywood Records,
I felt a warmth
I'd never felt.
And a desire to make it great.
Bathrooms are down
to the left,
kitchen's around
to the right.
Great.
[indistinct dialogue]
NICK: We were in this big,
beautiful house
with John Fields
and just doing
whatever we wanted.
Um, this--
got it all.
He was encouraging us
in our craft
at that young age,
and letting us
play instruments,
write songs with him.
JOHN FIELDS: I knew
this was gonna be special.
You could just tell
meeting the-- the boys.
It's like there is
an energy there
that is undeniable,
and the songs were amazing.
And it started to become
this...
sort of like little unit.
♪♪
KEVIN: We would play,
we would write, we would sing.
We pumped out, like,
a song or two a day.
"S.O.S.," "Hold On,"
"Goodnight, Goodbye,"
"Just Friends."
It just felt so passionate
and-- and exciting,
and there was nothing
holding us back from
creating this.
JOHN FIELDS:
Energy through the roof.
Everyone was just stoked
to be on this new path.
KEVIN:
So we're working at studio
early in the morning,
8 a.m. 'til 11:00 at night,
and we had this song
we recorded.
NICK: Shot a music video for,
but never released,
"Year 3000."
♪♪
It was a video we did at
Columbia Records,
and when we got dropped,
we carried it with us.
♪ One day when I came home
at lunch time ♪
♪ I heard a funny noise ♪
♪ Went out ♪
♪ With my neighbor
called Peter ♪
GREG GARBOWSKY:
You're done
watching your TV show,
all of a sudden here's
"Year 3000,"
you watch another show,
here's the "Year 3000,"
and it just got played
constantly.
♪ He said I've been to
the year 3000 ♪
JOE: It was just,
like, skyrocketing.
We were, like,
oh, my God.
♪ And your great, great,
great granddaughter ♪
KEVIN SR.:
The next day they were top 10.
[indistinct chatter]
♪♪
Ready? ♪ La ♪
KEVIN:
And then we get a phone call.
Joe has just been offered
the lead in this movie
called "Camp Rock"
on the Disney Channel.
♪♪
KEVIN SR.: We debated it
and talked about it,
and ultimately said,
we can't split
the brothers up.
KEVIN:
My dad called the president of
the Disney Channel and said,
"What if instead of just Joe,
it was a band?"
We were filming
four hours north of Toronto.
We were in no-man's land.
NICK:
When I was acting on TV,
I felt like that was my zone.
I really enjoyed myself.
I mean, Kevin and I
were barely in it,
but you're 13 years old and
you get to go make a movie,
it was incredible.
KEVIN: But what we didn't
know was that
in America, the band was...
blowing up.
MAN: Don't forget
the marionette show.
And it sure is a lot
of fun for the kiddoes.
KEVIN SR.:
I receive a phone call
from the promoter
of the Texas State Fair,
and he said there was
a traffic jam to Oklahoma.
JOE: We just assumed,
like, oh, well,
everyone's just
trying to get there.
They're, like, no,
it's the concert
you guys are putting on.
What?
KEVIN SR.: He said,
"I'm sending helicopters."
I thought the guy was crazy.
And he said,
"You don't understand."
[whirring]
JOE: I remember
getting in the helicopter
and looking down at the crowd,
and thinking, "Oh, this--
that must not--
that's someone else's stage."
Oh, my God!
There was more people than
I've ever seen in my life,
just thousands of people.
KEVIN:
We had no idea that, like,
people were getting excited
about the Jonas Brothers.
Well, we found out that day.
KEVIN SR.:
The boys walked on stage.
There's no way to describe
that sound.
♪♪
♪ So don't give up
stand 'til the end ♪
KEVIN SR.:
The roar that went up.
♪♪
Everything was different.
♪ So hold on ♪
♪ Hold on ♪
♪ Hold on ♪
♪ Hold on ♪
JOE: I also remember us
being shocked
at how many people knew
our words to our songs.
They were singing our music
back to us.
We were, like,
they're fans.
These are not just people
that came to this,
these are 50,000 fans.
[screaming, cheering]
PHIL MCINTYRE:
It was so validating
to how much sacrifice
had gone into it,
and to the family
being able to fight through
those tough seasons
to be able to get to
the other side of that,
and see them get on stage.
It was one of the most
incredible moments of
my career.
NICK:
Hey, what's up, everybody?
We're the Jonas Brothers.
-I'm Nick.
-I'm Kevin.
I'm Joe.
And you are on our
Myspace page.
Listen, guys. One week
our album's coming out.
This is--
I'm gonna run in traffic.
NICK:
We embraced the internet
in a way that I--
I don't think
a lot of people had
before us.
KEVIN: We were making
15 second videos
on YouTube.
Like, one was,
we walk into a room,
turn a table around.
Oh, how the tables
have turned.
Just look into the camera.
That's the video.
Hey. I'm Nick Jonas.
And today
we're talking about anger.
[clattering]
We actually really comment
you guys on Myspace.
It's actually us.
We are actually sitting there.
JOE: And we started growing
such a big fan base.
I think there was
a hundred followers on Myspace,
and we freaked out.
Yeah!
Jonas Brothers!
And then a few thousand,
and we were, like,
"Wow, it was, like,
happening."
-Hey, we're the Jonas Brothers.
-And we want to tell you
that we want to go on
a date with you.
We want to go on a date,
we're gonna hold hands,
we wanna just walk on
the beach, whatever it is.
Bill, the Jonas Brothers
have no idea
what they've
gotten themselves into.
How much did you sleep
last night?
Um, probably about
two hours at most.
I think my brothers and I
became closest
when we found a common ground
beyond music and family.
Girls.
[chuckles]
WOMAN: Do you have
a favorite Jonas brother?
-Not yet. We like 'em all.
They're hot.
-Yeah.
Yeah, they're all
pretty hot.
I love Joe and, um,
he should come and
meet me, please.
-[screaming]
-I love you, Nick.
Oh!
Kevin, don't get married.
Please.
I'll wait for you.
While I was in high school,
I couldn't get a date
no matter how much I tried.
I could not get a date.
After the Disney Channel
played our music video,
life immediately changes
as a teenager for me.
♪♪
[no audible dialogue]
I would hug you but,
it would be a little--
Me and Joe were, like,
wing-manning each other
constantly.
-Write me on Myspace.
-Okay. Of course.
[indistinct chatter]
We got to be on the
"Hannah Montana" episode
on the Disney Channel.
Great mama,
it's the Jonas Brothers!
That changed girls
for Nick forever.
Wow. You're pretty.
Nice save.
I'm Kevin.
We met Miley,
I think that kid's head
exploded.
NICK:
I started writing about love,
and I actually knew
what it felt like, you know.
♪ Called you for
the first time yesterday ♪
♪ Finally found
the missing part of me ♪
♪ It felt so close
but you were far away ♪
♪ Left me without
anything to say ♪
♪ Now I'm speechless,
over the edge ♪
♪ I'm just breathless ♪
♪ I never felt that
I'd catch this ♪
♪ Love bug again ♪
♪ Hopeless,
head over heels ♪
♪ In the moment ♪
♪ I never thought
that I'd get hit ♪
♪ By this love bug again ♪
For the first time,
I was asking them
the kinds of questions
that only a younger brother
can ask their older brothers.
Hey, Danielle,
it's Kevin.
How are you?
Rockin',
I want to give you
a little bit more information
about tonight if I can,
So, um, great
doors open at 9:00,
so we go on,
I think at 10.
-or shortly there--
soon around.
-[indistinct whispering]
And, um-- and if there's
any issues,
I'm gonna give you a number
right now to call.
She's our-- She--
No, no, I know I'm moving,
like, a million miles an hour.
I'm-- I'm having a lot--
But I'm just so excited
for you to--
to see you tonight, so...
Okay, the number is...
-810--
-Yes.
-Okay.
-8622
Yes! He did it.
Um, this is--
Her name is Felicia.
-She handles all of our--
-Oh, there you go.
You know, she's with us,
she like a--
I don't want to call her
a personal assistant.
[chuckles]
That's good, that's good.
Yeah, essentially, yeah.
She takes care of all
that stuff.
Um, so, sweet, that is
the number to call, I hope,
and I can't wait to see you.
Not a problem. No, no, no,
it's not gonna be a problem,
uh, just, you know,
10:00 we hit the stage.
So be there
or be square.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, that's--
that's totally cool,
I hear you.
No, um, I think--
And then we're hanging out
a little after,
like, I think there might be
a little chill out time
after the show.
Stop.
Okay.
Rockin', I will see you
in a little while, then.
Awesome, bye.
-Good job.
-You-- Don't talk to me
while I'm on the phone
anymore.
-Sorry for--
-We're just really excited,
because she's your wife.
[crowd shouting]
KEVIN SR.: I mean,
they're almost out of room.
They're on the--
KEVIN SR.:
I know, they-- they see you.
Guys, ready?
Watch this.
PHIL MCINTYRE:
That's unbelievable.
They see you.
[crowd screaming]
[shouting]
The line in the--
So far, and is huge, packed.
They said there's
15 right now, 15,000.
A lot of people.
Wow.
[woman talking on TV]
WOMAN 1 [on TV]:
The Big Apple has never seen
dedication quite like this.
These die-hard fans
have been here since
Tuesday morning.
WOMAN 2:
You're some of the biggest
Jonas fans here, huh?
GIRLS: Yeah!
WOMAN 1: All for their chance
to see Kevin...
PHIL MCINTYRE:
We definitely hit
a tipping point
where we entered
a new stratosphere.
It was uncharted territory
for all of us.
WOMAN: We're in Times Square.
We are waiting for
the Jonas Brothers
"A Little Bit Longer"
CDs to come out at midnight.
JOE: Every time we would
release an album,
we would go to Times Square
and celebrate.
Wait in line at midnight
and hold it in our hands.
7:30, that's like,
five more hours--
four and a half more hours
until they come.
KEVIN: We release
"A Little Bit Longer,"
and, just like tradition,
we go to Virgin Megastore
in Times Square.
Whoo!
KEVIN: So two years prior,
there's eight people there.
The next year there was maybe
30 or 40 people there.
Let's go.
Let's roll.
This time,
it's a little different.
Seriously, like, for safety,
if we say we gotta go,
that means we gotta go.
Before we even left,
we were getting calls
that it was
complete pandemonium.
BIG ROB:
I'm gonna tell you straight,
stick to us like
white on rice. Okay?
MAN: Is he all right
or is he--
-WOMAN: She is so happy.
-MAN: I hear people.
Oh, my gosh.
This is incredible.
Like,
it's actually happening.
-Holy cow.
-Oh, my God. Wow.
-Look at those barricades
in the middle of the street.
-Are you kidding me?
Are you kidding me?
[screaming]
Oh, my-- Yes!
MAN: You may have to
walk us in like the pope, man.
I don't know that
we're gonna be able to
go through this crowd.
-Goodness!
-Oh, my--
-It's New Year's Eve.
-I've never seen anything
like this.
BIG ROB:
Open the doors here.
-[screaming]
-This is incredible.
Oh, my God, there are
so many people here.
[screaming]
[chanting]
[screaming continues]
You see outside?
MAN: Boys.
[shouting]
BIG ROB:
We shut down Times Square
for seven to ten minutes.
There had to have been over
20,000 plus people there.
No movement, cars, people,
the fire department.
It's just-- We thought
it was just mayhem.
GREG GARBOWSKY:
2007 started off
with us playing
in food courts in malls.
And we went to theaters
and arenas
in a really short
amount of time.
REPORTER: Something close
to a mob scene
in Sacramento this afternoon.
[screaming]
♪♪
♪ Come on, girl ♪
[horns honking]
BIG ROB: The pace that it's
growing at right now--
it's goin' so fast.
I mean, I've been
doing this 14 years,
and the things that
we're doing with these--
I-- I've never done
before in my life.
These guys put a tour on sale
and they sell clean at
Madison Square Garden,
and they're, like,
we're gonna add another date,
and they sell clean at
Madison Square Garden,
like, we're gonna add
a third date,
and they sell that clean,
and we didn't have room
to add a fourth.
Please welcome
the Jonas Brothers!
-Jonas Brothers!
-WOMAN: Jonas Brothers!
Jonas Brothers.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Jonas Brothers
KEVIN SR.:
They had three albums
in the top ten,
a gold record in a week,
"Camp Rock" went platinum,
they're first album
went platinum,
this record was going
multi-platinum.
The Grammy nominees for
the Best New Artist are
the Jonas Brothers.
JOE: Right now, we're making
a demo with Stevie Wonder.
We're performing with him
on the Grammys.
And to have Stevie Wonder
out there playing it with us,
is gonna be
absolutely amazing.
These are the nominees for
the Best New Artist.
Come on, Stevie!
♪♪
How you doin'?
You feel good,
you feel great?
I can't stop smiling.
I don't know,
you can't make this shit up.
The experiences are priceless.
I mean, we were on an airplane
playing our new album
before our other album
had come out
while the numbers were
coming in for the tour.
And it was like,
"We just sold out Idaho,"
as we were, like,
listening to the new record.
It's like stuff
that's in a movie.
but it was really--
it was happening.
[shouting]
JOE:
I mean, think about it.
Two years ago, we're in
a minivan touring.
And now we're chartering
a 757 to go on tour.
It's-- It's just insane.
♪♪
JOHN TAYLOR: Hey, there's
no other way to put it.
Literally, like,
pinch me, this is happening,
like, oh, my gosh.
And, like, Joe would be,
like, "Dude, this is crazy,"
like the energy was--
was unimaginable.
NICK: I dreamed of
being on a chart.
The fact that we were on
"the chart"
was just amazing.
♪ Baby, you turn
the temperature hotter ♪
♪ Come on ♪
♪ I'm burnin' up, burnin' up
for you, baby ♪
♪ Burnin' up, burnin' up ♪
♪ For you, baby ♪
[screaming]
I think that fans fell
in love with the brothers
because they represented
something to them.
I think that they meant
more than the music.
I think that they meant
more than the concert.
You know, they were such
a positive force.
People really
appreciated that.
It was amazing to see--
amidst unstoppable...
ascent to fame--
the continuous gratitude
from these guys.
They were never
taking anything for granted.
What was crazy for me was
these songs that we'd written
in a two and a half
bedroom house
in Little Falls,
New Jersey,
um, were being sung by
70, 80,000 people
in countries where English
was not the first language.
♪ I'm hopeless ♪
♪ Head over heels
in the moment ♪
♪ I never thought
that I'd get hit ♪
♪ By this love bug again ♪
One of the few times I wish
I could go back and just
relive that experience,
because it was
so mind blowing
and such a beautiful sight.
[screaming]
KEVIN:
Three guys from Jersey
that, like,
really never had much,
to now, all of a sudden,
have fame and people know
your name.
Like, it felt cool.
NICK: I don't think I really
processed the magnitude of it.
♪♪
Jonas Brothers are here.
Sasha and Malia are huge fans.
♪♪
♪ Speechless,
over the edge ♪
♪ I'm just breathless ♪
♪ I never thought
that I'd catch this ♪
♪ Love bug again ♪
♪ Now I'm hopeless ♪
♪ Head over heels
in the moment ♪
♪ I never thought
that I'd get hit ♪
♪ By this love bug again ♪
Jonas!
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Love bug again ♪
[screaming]
KEVIN: At a certain point,
it was so big.
It was insane.
[screaming]
KEVIN:
It shifted from being, like,
this hype is super cool to...
should we be, like, scared?
♪♪
[screaming]
GREG GARBOWSKY:
I think what started to happen
is that it gets so big that
you can't control it.
[screaming]
And there's too many
moving parts.
Instead of bringing in
more people that they trusted,
They each took on more
themselves.
[screaming]
MAN: Joe, where are we going?
Uh, we're going to...
catering, but we're
going to do interviews.
JOE: It always felt like
it could go away in
the blink of an eye.
That's why we did
every interview,
we did every meet-and-greet.
We really never said no
to the point of exhaustion.
This game I played
a few days ago
it's fun 'cause
it's questions
we either have to
answer ourselves
or it might be directed
towards everybody else.
And I think you take
a big gulp of your drink
if two people know
that you didn't answer
fully honestly.
That work?
The more we drink,
the more the questions
are gonna be answered,
-so...
-[chuckles]
Joe.
Okay.
"Is there someone in your life
you hold real
resentment towards?"
-Uh, yeah,
the ballerina that--
-[laughing]
That talked about
your small penis?
[laughing]
She talked about my penis,
she didn't-- I don't--
She didn't talk about
a small penis.
[laughing]
That ballerina,
to this day
I think she was talkin' shit,
and I don't--
I'm not cool with it.
[laughing]
-Drink all that.
-Drink it all.
That was the truth, though.
Doesn't matter.
It's a terrible answer.
Ready?
One, two, three--
Boom! Nick.
Bowl it.
"Do you regret anything?"
Yeah, of course.
Regret, like, so much shit
all the time.
Let's say specifically
to this-- the Brothers.
Well, yeah, I mean,
it's all encompassing.
Um, biggest regret
in regards to the Brothers.
Um... season two of "Jonas."
[chuckles]
That's a big regret.
We shouldn't have done that.
It really stunted
our growth, you know?
I feel like it was...
just a bad move.
-Yeah.
-Like, it was just not
the time and--
Literally, we--
we couldn't evolve
because of it.
♪♪ [harmonica]
KEVIN: The way it was
presented to us was
the show will help continue
the brand around the world.
It'll keep it relevant in
the times you can't tour.
Let's not be those guys who
wear their sunglasses at night.
♪♪
KEVIN:
The show was not good.
JOE: It didn't feel like
it was us anymore.
It felt young.
And-- And we're
becoming adults.
KEVIN: It was not
on brand for us,
as, like, the band
that we were becoming,
the songs we were writing.
It was almost like two
very different identities.
BRAD WAVRA:
It was made for
eight-year-olds,
or ten-year-olds.
It just was going to
make you uncool.
KEVIN: I think that affected
the perception of the band,
that we were a joke,
this is-- They're not real,
they're robots.
And then it was--
And cut.
Great video shoot, guys.
This is bull puckey!
Yeah, we've had it,
gosh darn it!
"South Park"
did an episode about
Disney and the purity rings.
What's all this
I'm hearing about
not wearing the purity rings?
They were saying
Disney created a band
who are these cookie-cutter
boy band brothers,
that everything was perfect,
and they used Christianity
and purity rings
as a way to sell
music to kids.
Well, we don't want
to be selling sex
to little girls anymore.
Rings stay on.
Maybe we'll just
refuse to go on stage.
[grunts]
I mean...
they weren't far off,
that's for sure.
God's favorite virgins,
the Jonas Brothers,
will be performing at
the VMAs this year.
Oh, my God!
JOE: In the church,
it was encouraged that
we go through this program,
and it was, like,
wait for the right person
and wait 'til marriage.
All the kids that I grew up
with were doing it,
so I was, like,
oh, this is cool.
Probably by, like,
I don't know, 15,
I was like, what?
[laughs]
What is this?
The property has
six bedrooms,
and it's located in
a gated community.
Why do three virgins
need six bedrooms
-is what I want to know.
-[audience laughs]
That was not who we were,
like, it was just
something that we did
when we were young kids,
but we wore the rings through
the first bit of the band
starting to explode.
At that point,
it was already too late
because it was in the media.
In case you were unaware,
each of the Jonas brothers
does wear a tiny ring
as a mark of their
commitment to God.
I'd take it a little bit
more seriously
if they wore it on
their genitals.
KEVIN: We had
all of this success,
and that's the only thing
we could, like,
hear or focus on.
What things that people
were saying about us.
NICK: It was embarrassing
to be aware of this joke
in real life with people.
When I would go to
a sporting event,
and they would put me on
the jumbotron or us, whatever,
they would boo us.
As a sports fanatic,
I would be so hurt
'cause I was, like,
I am one of you.
I'm just like you.
KEVIN: It's funny 'cause,
like, we never really,
like, talked about
the disappointment
of those things.
You know, we always just
went into more work.
[screaming]
JOHN TAYLOR:
It created a recipe for
fear and paranoia,
and insecurity.
I think it started to take
its toll on the guys.
JOE: Do you think that's when
things started changing?
I think I became frustrated
because...
I was in those sessions
to write the music,
and, like, you guys
didn't want to do that,
and so I just felt, like,
a little bit of resentment,
that seed of getting angry
that you guys weren't...
in it with me there
-Mm-hm.
-creatively felt shitty.
The way I said it is
after this year,
we need some--
-There needs to be
a legit--
-Pause.
Like, think about it.
♪♪
Felt like it was just
a ticking time bomb.
-MAN: Let's go.
-A reality we might
have to face in our--
in our artistry as well as--
that this record
we're doing right now
might not be as big as
"A Little Bit Longer."
Do you think that one of you
might turn out to be,
uh, like Justin Timberlake
and break away from the group?
-Joe?
-You know,
we always talk about
solo projects--
-Mm-hm.
-And I think for us,
it would never be
a solo project,
-it would be a side project.
-Really?
There's no way
we can just break up
because, I mean, I live in
the same house as them,
so it's gonna be
pretty difficult.
♪♪
NICK: I was frustrated
creatively,
feeling like I've got
some music in my head
that I could make on my own
or with a side project,
and instead of
getting frustrated
with the fact that
I can't do that with
this creative outlet,
why don't I just
do it somewhere else.
♪♪
I saw the Administration
as a great escape.
It felt great to be in
an environment
where I knew if I,
like, hear something,
tell them a reference,
give them a feeling,
and everyone in the room
could do it.
The initial idea with this--
with this record
was that it was side project,
and-- and that's still
the-- the whole concept.
Me and my brothers
breaking up
is not something you need
to be worried about.
MAN: And, Nick, this way.
NICK:
After the Administration,
I moved to New York City.
And it was really
sort of like a--
a college experience
in a sense,
where, you know, I...
was on my own
for the first time.
Real independence.
♪♪
When I first went in to do
the rehearsals for
"How To Succeed,"
I was a little nervous.
And it was...
exhilarating.
♪♪
I really felt like
the work on stage
was being recognized.
I was having so much fun.
♪♪
JOE:
I was so thrilled for him,
because I knew
how happy he was,
but I was scared.
It was in, like,
the peak of the Jonas Brothers.
The dude was getting a taste
of what it's like on his own,
and it was awesome.
At the time, I felt like
I needed to go
and try to live
a normal life
and do my own thing.
-Excuse me, guys. Thank you.
-Have a good night, man.
Go travel,
meet girls, date,
just have time off.
I was trying to find myself.
I was outside of the Brothers
for the first time ever.
Finding independence,
and just seeing
what was out there
besides the Jonas Brothers.
I felt inspired,
and I-- I just couldn't wait
to put my attention and focus
into music of my own.
And I made, like,
an R&B pop record.
It was definitely, like,
an exciting time.
♪ Do you hear what I say? ♪
I was really trying to
prove myself
probably to my brothers,
but to everyone out there
that I can do it
without Kevin and Nick.
And I started
dressing differently,
I started acting differently,
and the music didn't do
as well as I anticipated.
I guess a little taste
of reality.
♪♪
My mind's, at the time,
like...
here's my first failure.
I think it was
really tough for me
because I felt like
I can't do anything
without my brothers,
like, it was embarrassing.
So instead of staying with
the band and the hype,
and, like, rolling in,
like, another tour,
and more music and kind of,
like, pushing that envelope,
we were, like, let's take
a pause and take a break.
And at the time, for me,
it was like--
[exhales]
Danielle was the normal girl
from New Jersey
who was a hairdresser.
We fall in love
and we get engaged.
I feel like...
I'm my own man.
Kevin,
you may kiss your bride.
[cheering, applause]
After four years of,
like, craziness,
I was living my best life.
It was nice to, like,
just be together.
You know,
like, we needed it.
Age wise,
I'm five years older
than Nick.
You know,
like I would have been
out of college at this point,
I would have had
all those experiences,
I would have been able to
just go on a normal date.
After I got married,
my priorities shifted
a little bit.
And then we got offered
a reality TV show.
[chuckles]
I wanted to do it.
All of a sudden,
they sent a crew of people
to our Denville house
in New Jersey,
and we were shooting
a pilot.
For the first time it was,
like, this is my thing.
I felt like I could
really do well
in this environment.
We filmed all of this stuff,
and then it all kind of
changed when, like,
the Jonases show up
and it's, like,
all weird.
Our whole life was
a closed-door meeting,
and Kevin invited cameras
into that meeting finally,
and we felt like
he was going to air out
a lot of our shit
that we didn't want people
to know about.
KEVIN: Joe and Nick
didn't want to have
anything to do with it.
They were, like, kind of
forced to do the show.
JOE: We didn't like
the idea that
the reality show could
dictate who we were.
And to watch it every Sunday
was not fun for us.
NICK: We got the band
back together,
I think, in a lot of ways
'cause we felt like we had to,
uh, but this time,
everything was different.
We thought because of
the success we'd had,
or because of
the familiarity of the name,
the Jonas Brothers,
that it would have success.
We were wrong.
We put out a couple songs
that really didn't connect.
We played some shows
and fewer and fewer people
were coming out,
and it just didn't feel like
anything was-- was working.
JOE: We were three people
all living different realities
of what the Jonas Brothers were.
We lost sight of the fact
that we were just a band
having a good time.
People liked seeing us happy,
and we were not happy.
We just decided that we could
beat it or something, and...
that's not how it works.
NICK: We're about
to go do this tour.
The reality of it all
was starting to hit me.
We're all so frustrated.
And nothing is working.
We hate each other,
basically.
And I called my dad,
and he actually picked me up
and drove me around LA
for two hours,
replaying the night before where
I had a full-on panic attack.
And we sat and talked
through it all.
And I was just full of anxiety.
He said, "I feel like
I'm fighting against
"something that's not working.
"I've given everything
I have to this music,
"but I'm going here,
Joe's going here,
"Kevin's over there,
and I just can't
do it anymore."
It was scary because
I'm not just the manager
at that point.
I'm the dad.
In the car, I just decided
the best way to handle this
was just going to--
was to be as honest as possible.
So we go into that meeting
And Nick actually said to me,
"They probably are even
anticipating this."
They were not.
So me and Joe sit down,
and Nick says,
"As you guys know, like,
things haven't been the same,
and the Jonas Brothers
should be no more."
It was not,
"My heart's not in it,
"and I wanna be real
with you as band members
and brothers,
this is where I'm at."
It was, "The band is over.
"I wanna go do stuff
without you guys,
and I've made up my mind."
And neither one of them were
saying anything.
I just remember
looking at Joe
and being like,
"Wait-- What do you-- What?"
JOE:
I felt betrayed.
I felt lied to,
I felt angry.
Numb.
And Joe said,
"I have nothing to say to you."
Joe has shut down.
I'm looking at my brother
just being destroyed inside.
I was 25-26.
This was all I've known.
This is what I loved
more than anything.
I loved doing this.
And somebody that you loved
and cared about so much
could take it away
from you so quickly,
that was, um...
That was heartbreaking.
It's like you get one taste
of solo success...
and you forget all the work
we put in together.
What hurt the most is
that it came from Nick,
because he is my best friend,
and I thought that me,
Kevin and Nick were
gonna do this forever,
and it was us against
the world, you know?
Then Joe finally broke down.
It was like,
"You want to be done?
Fine. We're done."
Folks, please step out
of the road.
That's when I knew
the band was over,
because Joe and Nick
were thick as thieves.
[crowd cheering]
MAN:
What's up, Nick?
ROBIN ROBERTS:
The fans were just stunned
at the bombshell news
that the band of brothers
were calling it quits.
They are going to set
the record straight.
The burning question, Kev--
Why now? Why?
MAN: Are you guys gonna
break up for sure?
You're not gonna say?
What's the deal, man?
They wanna know, man.
everyone wants to know.
You're not gonna say?
For a while, it was dark.
MAN: All right, man.
Well, have a good one.
I got an eight on Nick.
A 10, oh, it's to me.
"Why did you play
a Jonas Brothers radio show
after we broke up?"
Oof.
KEVIN: What I was told was,
the radio station said,
"If you don't play
these shows,
"we will never play
the Jonas Brothers
or any Jonas individually
on the radio again."
It'll just be like,
"Joe's gonna play his music,
"then Nick's gonna come out,
and Nick's gonna do his music.
"No Jonas Brothers music.
So, Kevin, it's okay,
you don't have to be there."
Okay. Fine. Whatever.
We're not playing together
anyway.
[crowd cheering]
♪♪
KEVIN: The entire set was them
singing all the Jonas Brothers
songs together.
♪ Don't include
your crazy friends ♪
All the big hits,
all the big moments,
and I'm just not there.
I think that might have
been the hardest moment
of my entire life.
[exhales]
Um...
I think it's because we felt
you were holding us back.
That's the truth.
I think there was, um...
moments that...
Nick and I wanted to...
do our own thing,
and we felt like your focus
was not in it anymore,
and it wasn't
a priority for you,
and starting a family was,
and your guitar playing,
kind of,
like, fell in the back seat.
And I think we wanted
to both continue doing music.
And I think we had these
gigs in front of us.
Now, as I think back on it,
I realize how fucked up it is,
going to take
a Jonas Brothers gig
and you weren't on stage,
but it took me time
to understand,
having someone
in my life that--
I'll do fucking anything
to see Sophie for an hour.
All of those years,
our first love was music,
first love was the band.
And so for me as a teenager
and a young adult,
to see you prioritize
anything but was bad.
But it took me a long time
to understand that.
Like, you found love
very young.
Um...
and I do think
you know now, too,
it's a balance.
Back then, we didn't feel
like you even tried that.
It felt like, it was just like,
"The show's done. I'm out."
And it was like, "Well, fuck,
like, sometimes that hang
with brothers is so important."
And I get that.
I love you. I'm sorry that
you had to go through that.
Yeah.
Let's carry on.
Let's leave it there.
[sighs]
KEVIN:
I got my card.
Didn't really see him
for Christmas that year.
Didn't see him the holidays.
[chuckles]
But I think what was
really hard for me was...
when Alena came...
we weren't really talking.
It was the first time I saw
my brothers since the breakup.
-[coos]
-[laughs]
[camera shutters clicking]
Nick came to me
at 21 years old and said,
"I feel like I'm a has-been."
And it was really tough.
NICK: I think a lot
of people in my life
gave my ability to be okay
a little too much credit
during that time.
[overlapping chatter]
NICK: I just didn't feel like
I deserved to...
to unravel because
I had initiated this...
very tough conversation.
[overlapping chatter]
DAVID MASSEY:
When Nick split up
from the band,
it was a very difficult time
for him,
but because our history
was so long,
I was aware of what
he was capable of
as a singer and as a writer,
and he knew it, too.
♪♪ ["Jealous" plays]
His ambition was wholly intact.
NICK: For a while, this
"you need to be great
at something,"
or being the best,
would drive me crazy.
There wasn't a defining moment
that I can look at
and say, "Oh, that was the
moment everything changed."
But when "Jealous" came out,
it was like I was ready
to evolve.
ANNOUNCER: I'm a big fan
of this new song.
DAVID MASSEY: He'd become
more and more charismatic
as a young man.
Congratulations
on all your success.
You could tell he was ready
to be a global superstar.
♪ You're too sexy, beautiful ♪
♪ Everybody wants a taste ♪
♪ That's why I still
get jealous ♪
[crowd singing, indistinct]
NICK: I was operating
with more freedom,
and I was really enjoying it.
I began to recognize that,
when you're enjoying yourself
and having fun, it resonates.
All the stars were
aligning and...
it was like, "Next chapter.
Here we go."
♪♪
[crowd cheering]
Thank you!
Joe came to me and said,
"Hey, I see what Nick's doing,
and there's more
in me as well."
The first batch of songs
I wrote was just like--
I can't explain the style
'cause it's not out there.
And I was like, "I don't know.
I don't think anyone's
gonna get it."
♪ Talk to me, baby ♪
"Cake By The Ocean"--
It's on every single day
of my life.
♪ Ah ya ya ya ya ♪
And I love that it is.
♪ We'll eat cake
by the ocean ♪
♪ Walk for me, baby ♪
JERRY O'CONNELL: It's funny
that you were nominated
for Best New Artist.
I was like, "Wait a minute.
I think he's been around
for a couple years."
ALL: DNCE!
JOE:
DNCE allowed me to be
as wild and as free
as I can possibly be.
I was able to dress
whatever crazy outfits
and change my hair color
every week
and just really, like,
live it.
I became more confident.
I was reverting back
to that young me.
Really finding that space
where I could evolve as
an artist,
and people accepted it.
♪ ...eat cake by the ocean ♪
[crowd cheering]
JOE:
It was my own little paradise.
Your brother's having great
success as a solo artist.
You've got DNCE.
Kev, is he just in--
Where's Kevin?
KEVIN: I don't think
I fully comprehended
what it would do to me
after the fact.
Even to this day...
I get asked if I'm Joe
or Nick every day.
"Are you Joe Jonas?
Are you Nick Jonas?"
And it's like,
"No, I'm Kevin."
[no audible dialogue]
NICK:
My whole life,
I've been so concerned
with success.
I felt like there was
a screwdriver in my head
all the time saying
you have to be successful,
you have chase the dream,
you have to get
the number-ones, all that.
But I found that success
isn't always tied
to fame and fortune
and awards
and those kinds of things.
-WOMAN [on phone]: Hello?
-Hey, babe.
-Hey.
-Hey. What size is Valentina?
What size diapers?
Is she a three, four,
or five? I can't remember.
-She's a four.
-She's a four?
Not the purple,
so then this guy.
All right, cool.
I got it.
All right, cool. Love you.
WOMAN [on phone]:
All right.
Love you. Bye.
KEVIN: My identity now is
just, like, I'm a father.
I'm a husband. I'm passionate
about the things that I like.
[pepper grinder ratcheting]
JOE: I think it was amazing
when Kevin had children.
He-- He became a leader.
And I've never seen Kevin
like that before.
Wanna go see Alena?
I got asked by someone,
"You look really familiar."
My daughter said,
"Well, that's because
he's a Jonas Brother."
You guys all right?
Did you sleep good?
Four-year-old
said to this girl.
But it's starting
to become weird,
because that part
of my life is dead now.
Here.
That's no longer my identity,
and I had to get to a place
where I could say, like,
"Formerly of
the Jonas Brothers."
-[feet pattering]
-You wanna play?
-[static sounding]
-Oh, don't do that.
You wanna be a real rock
and roller,
you gotta do this,
though. Okay?
You gotta put all your hair
in front of your face like that.
Alena, she's only heard music.
She's never seen Daddy
on stage.
Being able to see her
in that audience
see me do what I do did
best for so long...
And she knows me as her dad--
[laughing]
She doesn't know the person
that was great.
NICK: You know, it's funny
how you spend so much time
chasing happiness
and the things
you think will bring you
that joy in life
and not realizing
it's been there all along.
JOE: Letting go of my anger
and my sadness...
It took time.
I'd rather we be brothers
and not have our band
dictate our relationship.
JOE: I think Nick said it
casually, like,
"I really miss performing
with you guys."
And I don't even think
I really heard him.
I just was like,
"Yeah, cool,"
and then kept on moving.
♪♪
JOE: No way in hell
I would do it again.
That was where I was at,
until I was, like,
"No, like, I actually--
I miss it."
♪ Well, they come and go ♪
♪ But they don't know ♪
♪ That you are my beautiful ♪
♪ I try to come ♪
♪ Closer with you ♪
♪ But they all say ♪
♪ We won't make it through ♪
♪ But I'll be there forever ♪
♪ You will see
that it's better ♪
♪ All our hopes
and our dreams ♪
♪ Will come true ♪
NICK: Even after
I found solo success,
I would miss looking over...
and seeing them.
♪ Please be mine ♪
NICK: A little rusty.
But currently we don't
have a label, so--
-Eight years.
-Still a jam.
♪♪
KEVIN: We started
the conversation with,
"I'll do this if we
can have fun together."
[overlapping chatter]
JOE: It's been probably
six, seven years
since just the three
of us just got to hang out.
KEVIN: We spent the last year
traveling the world together
and really just reconnecting.
Laughing and talking,
reminiscing.
These old things that
we used to do together.
And I really missed it.
We laid it all out there.
We really held nothing back.
NICK: This is an adjustment.
I mean, it's not all, like,
rainbows and butterflies.
-Don't touch it!
-Yeah, don't touch it.
-What are you doing?
-Just rolling back--
-Don't touch it.
-Look how you mapped it.
That's bullshit.
NICK: That's part of the
re-establishing of chemistry
and camaraderie
and the brotherhood aspect.
And that will be a process
in this.
-Go back to it.
-Did it go away?
Yeah, 'cause you were,
like, jacking the phone.
Hold on.
NICK: There's already little
things each of us do
that probably annoy
the fuck out of each other.
-Give me my phone.
-Yeah, but we're getting
a tape measure.
I don't give a shit
about your--
I wanna show you
how exact this is.
-[laughing] Give me this phone!
-Bring in the tape measure!
[laughter]
-First time in Australia.
-You brought the rain with you.
-[laughing]
-Cheers.
-Salud.
Salud.
Yeah. Nice to meet you.
♪ Come back to me, baby ♪
♪ I'll come back to you ♪
♪ You know the place
that I go running to ♪
♪ I get scared
when you're scared ♪
♪ But what else can I do? ♪
♪ Come back to me, baby ♪
♪ I'll come back to you ♪
I really want to have
a second chance
with them so I can enjoy
every moment with my brothers...
and I can...
smile more.
It's hard to pick one,
but I think my proudest
memory would be
this past year,
because this is the year that
I have grown as a person,
and I've grown with my brothers.
♪♪
JOE:
It's been a long road.
We've been through so much.
In finding myself,
I was also able
to find a partner.
The impact of falling
in love
has made me want
to be a better man...
a better person...
and ultimately made me
a better brother.
KEVIN:
We all spent the time apart
truly coming into our own.
I focused on my family,
on being the best husband
and father that I could be.
NICK: The time apart
was necessary.
I was able to pursue
different creative avenues
and experiment with life
in a way I never could before.
I was feeling inspired...
and it led me to find something
even greater
than I could ever imagine.
Love.
And this love has
changed my life...
forever.
Everything's amazing.
My husband.
PHIL MCINTYRE:
I think that the brothers
had to grow apart
to be able to get perspective.
They've realized
if you can get through life
with a couple key
relationships intact,
they now have the perspective
just how special that is.
All I cared about was that
they would be okay as brothers.
They made it through.
There are brother bands
that don't speak...
that hate each other.
Not my sons.
And it wasn't about the money,
wasn't about the music,
wasn't about the fame.
It was,
"Hey, brothers...
you wanna do something
awesome again together?"
[crowd cheering]
♪♪
♪ We go together ♪
♪ Better than birds
of a feather, you and me ♪
♪ We change the weather, yeah ♪
♪ I'm feeling heat in December ♪
Can you believe this?
Jonas Brothers back
together out of nowhere,
releasing "Sucker,"
which I love.
But they're actually
the first family band
to ever have a debut number one
song on the Hot 100.
-They're all grown up now.
-I know.
I put my head
on the pillow at night
happy that the Jonas Brothers
are back together.
♪ I'm a sucker for you ♪
I am their number one fan.
I know every lyric
of every song.
I can recite every story
of how they were made.
I love their music so much.
♪ I'm a sucker for all
the subliminal things ♪
♪ No one knows 'bout you ♪
♪ 'Bout you, 'bout you,
'bout you ♪
♪ And you're making
the typical me break
my typical rules ♪
♪ It's true ♪
♪ I'm a sucker for you ♪
♪ I'm a sucker for you ♪
Thank you.
I chipped my tooth
during a show.
I had the mic,
and I was, like--
Right here.
I chipped my tooth.
Can you see it? Yeah.
♪ We weren't meant to
get out of Jersey ♪
♪ Two stops past the parkway
and that old cemetery ♪
♪ We weren't born
to grow in early ♪
♪ But it rained hard
in the Garden State,
and we shot up like weeds ♪
♪ Walking out of the red
brick house, yeah ♪
♪ I could hear it screaming ♪
♪ Please don't leave ♪
♪ Like, hey,
where you going? ♪
♪ Don't you want to talk about
it before you walk away? ♪
♪ Like, hey,
where you going? ♪
♪ When there's still
so much left to say ♪
♪ Hollywood's a lot
like the Bible ♪
♪ Both take faith,
and if you want grace
then you gotta believe ♪
♪ Holding on
was always a battle ♪
♪ Even the Father, Son,
and the Holy Ghost ♪
♪ Don't always agree ♪
♪ There was always room
for one of us, but
not enough for three ♪
♪ So, who's it gonna be? ♪
♪ Saying, hey,
where you going? ♪
♪ Don't you want to talk about
it before you walk away? ♪
♪ Like, hey,
where you going? ♪
♪ When there's still so much
left to say to each other ♪
♪ If we're broken,
rather be honest ♪
♪ Than unspoken words
that can hurt, but ♪
♪ What could be worse ♪
♪ Than that final curtain
comin' down? ♪
♪ Like, hey,
where you going? ♪
♪ Don't you want to talk about
it before you walk away? ♪
♪ Like, hey,
where you going? ♪
♪ When there's still
so much left ♪
♪ There's still
so much left ♪
♪ Still so much left
to say ♪
♪ I am what I am,
I know what I'm not ♪
♪ I'm not the type of guy
that doesn't know
how good he's got it ♪
♪ And I won't back down,
won't come around ♪
♪ Saying that I changed
'cause that's not how
it's going down ♪
-♪ And I know ♪
-♪ I know ♪
♪ I go ♪