- 2 weeks ago
The Jonas Brothers have learned a few things after 20 years in the spotlight together. In this episode of “What I’ve Learned,” Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas sit down with Esquire Editor-in-Chief, Michael Sebastian, to look back on two decades of music, fame, and brotherhood. From their Disney days to solo careers, fatherhood, divorce, and life on tour, the brothers open up about family, faith, and the future of the band.
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00:00After 20 years, if you play a song and the crowd gets excited off the first lyric, you're like, oh shit.
00:05What was the biggest kind of what-the-fuck moment?
00:07Being adults, we can look at that and say, we know that that was uncomfortable and wrong.
00:11Also, none of your fucking business.
00:13So the band breaks up.
00:14Would you guys change anything about the way that went down?
00:17When it comes to music, I didn't feel being transparent, confident to do it independently.
00:21We were just kind of getting over the hump of having to talk about The Theory of Rings a lot, and we're like, fuck.
00:30Hi, I'm Michael Sebastian, Editor-in-Chief of Esquire.
00:33Today, I'm joined by a band of brothers, one that started in a New Jersey garage and went on to achieve international acclaim all before they could legally rent a car.
00:40From Disney stardom to the global stage, two decades in, their place in the pop culture pantheon has been firmly cemented.
00:47Three brothers, countless hits, one hell of a second act.
00:51Please welcome the Jonas Brothers.
00:53Hey.
00:53Hey.
00:54That was a great intro.
00:55What an intro.
00:57One take, by the way.
00:58That was one take.
00:59That was one take.
00:59That was good.
00:59I'm a professional here.
01:00I don't mean to give any notes, but technically not the garage, but in a very, you know, similar
01:05room to the basement.
01:06It was the basement, yeah.
01:07I'm sorry.
01:07I just had to make that clear.
01:08I think we did set up in the garage once just to take a photo to pretend like we were
01:11a garage band, but.
01:13Yeah.
01:13That's actually where I want to start.
01:15I've seen the documentary a couple of times, as a matter of fact, and I was getting these
01:19kind of like Bruce Springsteen Born to Run vibes as I'm watching you guys make this music
01:23in your basement.
01:24So take me there.
01:25Take me there to when you're there in your basement and just paint the picture for us.
01:29That was the place we could be the loudest, really.
01:33Four boys growing up in New Jersey in a very small home, but it was just us kind of like
01:38this in a circle playing music that we loved, bands that we would go listen to like Switchfoot
01:44or Oasis, a Coldplay, to name a few.
01:48Just great lyricists and people that we aspired to be one day.
01:52But in the basement's where we were able to really go down till the wee hours and just
01:58play, literally drenching sweat usually, playing over and over and over again with pipes all
02:03around us.
02:03I mean, humble beginnings, but also really the core memory of us as brothers becoming
02:08a band.
02:09What kind of music was playing in your house in New Jersey when you guys were doing this?
02:12So much.
02:13So we had a Ford Windstar, sort of that like greenish gray tone, it was a minivan, and our
02:20dad would drive, you know, back and forth to New York City.
02:22At the time, there was a black kind of CD booklet case with, you know, 30-something CDs in it.
02:28And our dad filled it with all of his go-tos, you know, Carole King, Tapestry, Stevie Wonder,
02:34Songs in the Key of Life, Bee Gees No. 1s, Beatles No. 1s.
02:38It really became our musical education.
02:40And the thing I really appreciate most about the way our dad taught us about his favorite
02:45music is that when we would discover something on our own or when we would want to hear something
02:50in the car that we heard on the radio that, you know, perhaps was outside of the things
02:54that he knew or was familiar with, he was so encouraging.
02:57He always said that if someone has made it to that point, they've done something right.
03:00So I want to go to a specific moment.
03:03Your dad loses his job.
03:05What?
03:06Yeah.
03:06Sorry to tell you that to me.
03:08When?
03:09Yeah.
03:10So he loses his job.
03:12The record label drops you at that same time, right?
03:15You move out of your house in Wyckoff, New Jersey.
03:17You move to Little Falls.
03:17It's a small house.
03:18It's like, what, two bedrooms or something like that.
03:20Tell me what that moment is like.
03:21What do you learn from something like that?
03:23We were sad.
03:25Our life was changing dramatically.
03:27But we were also like, just kept pushing forward.
03:30Yeah.
03:30Four boys, one bedroom in the Little Falls house.
03:32And we ended up getting dropped.
03:34And then Nick wrote a song called S.O.S. in the basement.
03:38And it just unlocked the potential of the Jonas Brothers.
03:42And that's why I think that album, the self-titled album that came as our second real album,
03:55was why we named it that.
03:57It truly was who we were.
03:59Like, we, I think we found ourselves.
04:01Yeah.
04:01It forced us to.
04:03Yeah.
04:03It's the first moment in, I think, all of our lives where we perhaps better understood
04:10what financial stress can do to a family.
04:14Yeah.
04:14Which is a very important lesson to learn.
04:16And I think it was invaluable to us at that time.
04:21Obviously, traumatic and tough to navigate as a family in real time.
04:27But I think we all had this deep sense of belief that it was going to work.
04:31And we were that close.
04:34A lot of very real sacrifices and very big swings that, you know, either would be an enormous
04:42consequence for us that we'd have to figure out, or it was going to work.
04:46Yeah.
04:46And so, thank God it worked.
04:48Yeah.
04:49We were living what felt like an oddly double life.
04:52Because we'd go play these concerts and have these, like, massive crowds.
04:57Yeah.
04:57And that kind of rock star mentality that we were feeling on stage.
05:01And then we'd go back to a small room with a crying baby.
05:04And we're like, what?
05:05This is like, again, thank God that that was our case.
05:09Because it really kind of, I think, reminded us of just where we came from.
05:14Yeah.
05:14Like, all those years later.
05:15And for some of us, we were like, we've got to get out of here.
05:18Yeah.
05:18Like, we can't take this place anymore.
05:20Yeah.
05:20It's holding us back.
05:21Yeah.
05:22Fast forward, you look back at those memorable moments in years, and you're like, that was
05:26so definitive of who we are as a band.
05:27Yeah.
05:28And people.
05:28Let's move beyond that.
05:31And you're out in LA.
05:33The Disney Channel is playing, you know, one of your songs over and over again.
05:36I mean, you go from three guys in a two-bedroom house in New Jersey to worldwide sensations
05:42in, what, like, less than two years or something like that, right?
05:44I mean, hearing our song on the radio for the first time.
05:47Yeah.
05:48I'll never forget.
05:49We were at, I think it was Coney Island, but running on hot pavement to our car so we
05:53could listen to it.
05:54Because somebody said, hey, at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, they're going to play your song.
05:56Everything was happening at once.
05:58And I think we were just kind of ready for the ride.
06:01And I think we were built for it because we were like, okay, we know what it feels like
06:04not to have that.
06:05Let's lock in.
06:06When we get our shot, we have to go for it.
06:09Yeah.
06:09Give it everything.
06:10Yeah.
06:10What was the biggest kind of what-the-fuck moment for you?
06:14Like, the thing that you're just kind of like, this is weird.
06:18I think it was the interest in our personal lives, you know, at first was something that
06:23we were obviously foreign to.
06:27But also, we were so young.
06:29And I think some of the things that people were talking about in today's day and age,
06:34I'm thankful to say we've come such a long way in 15 to 16 years to where it would be
06:41completely inappropriate to speak about a 13 or 14-year-old's dating life or sex life
06:46or, you know, all of that.
06:47And it was something that was really synonymous with our name and our image for a while, whether
06:52we wanted it or not.
06:53When you live that public life, it's part of the, I'd say, like the tax you have to pay.
06:57I'm grateful that, you know, for the most part, I'm pretty well-adjusted.
07:01We all are considering some of the things we had to sort of navigate.
07:05Speaking of people prying into your personal lives at that young age, let's talk about
07:09the purity rings.
07:10Do you have yours still, Joe?
07:12Yeah?
07:12Somewhere here.
07:13Hold on.
07:13Let me find it.
07:14You know what I mean?
07:14You guys have talked about it since then.
07:15But people are asking you about these purity rings that you wore that were supposed to
07:19signify that you were going to be, what is it, virgins until you were married or something
07:23along those lines?
07:24So, yeah, basically, you know, in the church system that we grew up in, this was pretty
07:28much, you know, customary for born-again Christian faith to sort of make this commitment
07:35in your youth group or, you know, whatever.
07:38And it was just sort of part of the, let's call it the curriculum, right?
07:41Yeah.
07:41I would say the success rate of that commitment for most people is probably not that high.
07:48Because that's life, you know?
07:49You grow up and you start making your own choices.
07:51And I think if the conversation was able to be had, there'd be some levity that would
07:57come with just being like, it's a really good concept.
07:59Yeah.
08:00Right.
08:00It's a great concept.
08:00Wait for the right person.
08:01Wait for the right person.
08:02Wait till you're ready.
08:03Yeah.
08:03Wait till you understand this.
08:05Perhaps not at your youth group.
08:06Yeah.
08:07And we were playing at the Jingle Ball Festival.
08:11It's the show that iHeartRadio puts on in New York.
08:13We had this big interview and cover story set up with a magazine.
08:19And the journalist right away sort of dug into talking about the purity rings.
08:24Meanwhile, I'm 14, I think at the time, 14 or 15.
08:27Joe's 16.
08:28Kevin's 17 or 18.
08:29Quite young to be, to my point before this, to be asking us about that.
08:35Yeah.
08:35And also, I'll say this, none of your fucking business.
08:39Yeah.
08:39And these are the things we could never say then, which now being adults, we can look
08:43at that and say, we know that that was in the moment inherently uncomfortable and wrong.
08:47Yeah.
08:48And the interview kind of got like shut down.
08:50Things got weird because he was pressing so hard on that.
08:53You know, eventually the article comes out and it's all about that.
08:56It just got spun out of proportion.
08:58And eventually, as I said before, it became really synonymous with our name for a while.
09:02So the South Park episode, other things that, you know, talked about it.
09:06And I think we're all pretty balanced in saying, we get it.
09:09Yeah.
09:09It's a bizarre thing for a lot of people to digest.
09:11And we're, you know, teenagers navigating our own journey with something that's a very
09:15complicated and important subject.
09:18Yeah.
09:18We certainly learned a lot from it.
09:20You mentioned the South Park episode.
09:22When you saw that, did you think it was funny or were you like, or was it uncomfortable?
09:28I was a fan of South Park.
09:30So knowing they make fun of you, it is a what the fuck moment where you're like, oh, this
09:37is incredible.
09:37This is insane.
09:38I think it was more about the concept and like making money about it and using purity
09:43rings to make money.
09:44Foul mouth Mickey Mouse is kind of funny.
09:46I mean, getting my ass kicked by Mickey Mouse is one of the highlights of my career thus far.
09:51You know, we were just kind of getting over the hump of having to talk about the purity
09:54rings a lot.
09:54And we're like, fuck, you see, we were right about the purity rings.
10:00A nice Christian symbol can't be used for profit gains.
10:03We've all anchored God.
10:05Now it's hilarious.
10:05Now it's hilarious.
10:06I think we could show it during our concert.
10:08But at the time, you know, it was a little confusing, even though it was like, and I'm
10:10secretly thinking it's pretty funny.
10:12I'm like, this is pretty good.
10:13Yeah.
10:13But obviously it's like, yeah, nobody wants to be the butt of a joke.
10:17Nobody wants to sit in front row at a comedy, at the comedy store and knowing you're going
10:21to be the one being made fun of, you know?
10:23Your dad was a pastor and I'm curious what your relationship is with God or with religion
10:29now compared to what it was when you were young.
10:33I still have a relationship with God, with the church in my life.
10:37And it's important to me and it's how I was raised, but it's also become more than
10:41that it's my relationship that I have, you know, and it's also what I want to pursue,
10:46how I want to pursue it.
10:46I think the difference in my life now is I understand that not everything is black and
10:51white, you know, there is, there's way more gray than there is clarity.
10:57Joe.
10:57You know, being a pastor's kid, it was pretty mandatory to be second pew at church, well
11:04dressed.
11:05And I remember being like, I don't want to go today and having a conversation with my
11:11mom, be like, I'm not going to go.
11:13And she was like, well, I was like, I don't know if I believe in God.
11:15And she was like, what?
11:18Maybe Sunday morning at 8 a.m. is not the best time to let your mom know that.
11:22But I think I've gone through quite like a lot of journeys with, with my relationship
11:28with God, like going through some like very life changing things in my personal life.
11:35Like the last couple of years, I found myself praying a lot.
11:39And if there's turbulence, I'm definitely like, Hey God, what's up?
11:42It's me again.
11:44So I've got a relationship with something.
11:47Not sure what it is, but it's they, she, them have been great to me.
11:52Tell me, do you remember the moment or a moment when like all of this became a reality to
11:58you where, you know, giant entertainers, like, was there a moment where that clicked?
12:01We were nominated for best new artists at the Grammys and we performed with Stevie Wonder.
12:07We were so nervous.
12:09We started with our song Burning Up and then Stevie came out and we sang Superstition with
12:14him.
12:14And the first people to get up and encourage everyone to get on their feet was, was Paul
12:20McCartney and Chris Martin.
12:22And I got to tell this story to Chris years later.
12:24And I'm thinking, and of course, Paul was like, that is just the coolest thing.
12:28And it was kind of a question like, are we amongst our peers right now?
12:31This, this is different.
12:32There's, there's something about this.
12:33Um, and we went on to lose to, rightfully so to Adele that year.
12:37It was a stacked year.
12:38Yeah, of course Adele won.
12:39I think that, that moment for sure was up there.
12:41And then throughout, you know, different chapters of our, our career, there have been times where,
12:47you know, you think maybe we've reached the peak, right?
12:53And, and maybe, maybe everything else from this moment is just going to feel kind of less exciting or exhilarating.
12:59And fortunately those peaks have really turned into plateaus where we're able to sort of traverse and get to our next peak.
13:06And that's been the story of our, our career.
13:09Now I'm with some, some valleys as well there, but, uh, you know, it just keeps getting better.
13:14Does that ever come with a kind of a sadness or a worry as well?
13:18It's like, you've reached this and it's like, I mean, you kind of said it yourself.
13:21It might not get any better than this.
13:23You know, you can sit there and look at the past and think it's only going to, that was the best it's ever going to get.
13:26And then suddenly you're in it now and it's, it's even better.
13:29And then 10 years from now, who knows, we might have that same feeling.
13:32So just staying present and trying to enjoy every moment, I think has been our North Star.
13:36Yeah.
13:37Okay.
13:37Here's one I want all of you to answer as well.
13:40How much is too much to pay for a pair of socks?
13:42How much is too much to pay for a pair of socks?
13:45Phenomenal question.
13:45Yeah.
13:46Why don't you start, Nick?
13:47Too much to pay for a pair of socks.
13:51I think $50.
13:54$50.
13:55Nice.
13:55Yes.
13:55Like a really beautiful pair of socks for a suit, that kind of thing.
14:00They should max out there.
14:02Joe?
14:03I want to say $49, but I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with $40.
14:09Because I mean, like, I don't, I'm not too picky.
14:11Now, when it comes to compression socks, the older I get, the more I'll invest in an expensive pair of compression socks.
14:17That's well over $50.
14:18I'd have like five, six pairs.
14:20Some ski socks, like you've had it.
14:21Oh yeah.
14:22One, I mean, blast, like 120 bucks.
14:25Yeah.
14:26Those fuckers better work.
14:28Keep my feet warm.
14:30I was gifted a pair of Tom Ford socks that was a truly, like.
14:34He was gifted a pair.
14:35I was gifted.
14:36And now you're addicted to Tom Ford socks?
14:38And I have never purchased a Tom Ford pair of socks myself, but I did look up the price.
14:42So I can understand the value of something like a Tom Ford sock.
14:46How much are Tom Ford socks?
14:47Tom Ford socks are north of $100 for a pair of regular socks.
14:50But they're nice though, right?
14:51But they are the best, like literally I have them in one drawer.
14:54Per sock?
14:55Yeah.
14:55And they are like, if I'm going to, wearing a tux, I'm wearing those socks.
14:59Great.
14:59It's a great gift.
15:00Have you guys fucked around with cashmere socks before?
15:03Oh yeah.
15:03Yeah.
15:04Yeah.
15:04Yeah.
15:04I do love like a fun colored socks and a comfort, comfortable sock is key.
15:09Yeah.
15:10Cashmere.
15:12All right.
15:12You mentioned turbulence.
15:13Let's talk about a couple of turbulent things.
15:15So the band breaks up.
15:16Okay.
15:17So that's 2013, right?
15:18Breaks up over creative differences.
15:20Would you guys change anything about the way that that went down?
15:24Oh yeah.
15:25Yeah.
15:26Loaded question, but we did not have access to the vocabulary emotionally that we needed to.
15:34Yeah.
15:35To navigate that chapter.
15:38I had never done therapy, for instance, at that point in my life.
15:42I regret how the conversation went down and the fact that it really was like ripping a
15:52band-aid as opposed to talking through that moment and that part of our story as family
15:59with love at the center of it.
16:01Yeah.
16:02I think what I would have changed is probably the three of us, we should have gone to some
16:08ranch and had a long weekend and like, let's just talk through like, where's everybody's
16:12heads at?
16:13That's what I would have done differently.
16:15But I don't know.
16:17We're, we're here to tell the tale.
16:18And so the ranch thing just sounds fun.
16:22We should probably just do that anyway.
16:23Just do that anyway.
16:25I'd love that.
16:25Go fishing.
16:26Yeah.
16:27Go fishing.
16:28I think that it needed to happen.
16:30Um, and sometimes those conversations, no matter how tough you look back on it and you're like,
16:36yeah, it was, it had to be like that because we knew no other way.
16:41Yeah.
16:41It's never easy.
16:42It's never good.
16:43I will say I got lucky.
16:45I was, I was distracted during that time.
16:49If I'm going to be honest, I was about to have my, our first daughter.
16:53So my mindset just kind of shifted.
16:55It was like, all right, let's focus on this now.
16:56So I didn't actually like process it appropriately and I didn't like grieve it either.
17:04Then, then I came crashing down.
17:05Yeah.
17:06Yeah.
17:06But I just emotionally wasn't present.
17:07It was kind of interesting that I just shifted focus.
17:10Obviously, Nick, you had a solo career.
17:12Uh, you had this huge hit, you know, as, as well.
17:15Like you both, both of you guys like went, went, um, into music and then Kevin, you, you
17:19did it really, right?
17:20I mean, I did not.
17:20No.
17:20Yeah.
17:21Tell me a little bit about that.
17:22I mean, how come you kind of swerved when these guys, you know, uh, it just
17:26wasn't in the cards for me at that time.
17:27And I've always felt like when it comes to music has to be right for what you want to
17:32do.
17:32And these guys had a passion for it.
17:33And I didn't feel, uh, being transparent, confident in my vocal ability, my playing
17:39ability, my, as for, to do it independently.
17:43Yeah.
17:43I, I leaned on these guys and I think that was my crutch for so long that I kind of just
17:48felt like I wasn't there.
17:50Wasn't prepared and wasn't good enough.
17:51Yeah.
17:52And being frank for me, I focused on other things I went into thinking, okay, well, this
17:57is, that was that chapter of my life.
17:59Now I'm going to go do this chapter.
18:00I also feel like I didn't pick up a guitar for about a year and a half after we broke
18:04up.
18:05Wow.
18:05Cause I felt like I couldn't.
18:07Yeah.
18:07You guys have all, uh, kind of, you know, referenced being, uh, dads.
18:10And I think all of us here are dads, uh, of girls, right?
18:13Yeah.
18:14All of us are.
18:14Yeah.
18:15So let's talk about that.
18:16I mean, what, what have you learned?
18:18I mean, what have you learned being dads?
18:19Uh, and let me make, be specific about it.
18:21What have you learned about being girl dads?
18:22What have I learned being a girl dad?
18:25Well, it's the greatest inspiration I've ever needed to go and do what I love, but also like
18:36provide for them and create for them.
18:38And they're in London right now.
18:39So I look at like a flight that'll take me across the world for a day and then fly back
18:47and play a show just the next day.
18:50It's like so worth it to be able to just take my kids to their first day of school.
18:55Like it's, it's, it's going to be tough on the body, but it's, you'll do it.
18:59I'll do anything when in the past I'd be like, um, just not, I'm going to put my feet up or
19:03I'm going to go just like, I really need a massage, whatever it is.
19:07It's like, it makes you much stronger and you want to be healthy for them.
19:12You want to be, um, really present.
19:15I think just being able to put my phone down and sit with my daughters and get to know them
19:21every second is so important.
19:23Um, every moment matters.
19:25Um, someone said something to me and I've tried to live this now.
19:29They said it takes 10,000 hours to be, you know, great at something.
19:33Right.
19:33That's traditionally the idea.
19:35Try to put 10,000 hours in before they're 10 years old.
19:39That's good.
19:39Because I have an 11 year old now.
19:41She's definitely already on her way.
19:44Yeah.
19:44Yeah.
19:44And 10,000 before 10 is for anyone about to have kids.
19:49That's the advice I'd give you.
19:50Yeah.
19:51Yeah.
19:52I don't even know where to, where to begin.
19:54Um, right.
19:55But I didn't know prior to being a parent that it was possible to access love this big.
20:02There's romantic love and we understand what that, that is.
20:05But when that unit then experiences this big love together, this, this larger than life,
20:13spiritual, you know, explosion of, of love, uh, it's a profound thing.
20:21Um, and I think it's, it's changed me in ways I can't even begin to describe.
20:27Joe, you, you, you've credited your mom with raising four boys and instilling, quote, uh, an
20:32understanding of how to be nice guys to women.
20:35So I, I'm curious, what is most important to impart on your daughters in that sort of
20:40realm?
20:41That's a great question.
20:41And yeah, our, our mom is a super mom for raising the, with our dad, of course, raising
20:47us.
20:48But it's a lot of, a big undertaking to have four boys running through the house at the
20:51time.
20:51But for girls, I think it's a definitely for me having credible, strong female presence
21:01in the, in the household and, um, in their household as well.
21:04I mean, they've got a fantastic mom.
21:08Um, and so I get to co-parent with a great person who, who prioritizes these kids as well.
21:15I want them to grow up in a world where they feel like they can do whatever the hell they
21:20want and they get the experiences that life can provide.
21:27And I hope they can come to me to talk about anything, you know, I want them to feel safe
21:32enough that I am their friend.
21:35And then I happen to be their dad.
21:36Yeah.
21:36Um, that, that's what I hope for.
21:39What happens if they come to you and say, dad, we want to be a sister band of pop stars?
21:44Well, I would say, how old are you now?
21:48Um, I, I think that's something that I'd be pretty weary on just at a young age.
21:56Yeah.
21:56Um, but I would like the idea that they wait till at least they're like old enough to buy
22:03a lottery ticket.
22:04That would be nice because it's similar where it can be a gamble and it can be a gamble personally
22:08and mentally.
22:09And it's, it's as great as it, it is to start young.
22:15You know, I don't envy the young artists that are starting today.
22:18So one thing I want to talk about is, is, uh, how as brothers, you guys have, um, rallied
22:24for each other.
22:26And I say that because I feel like, you know, there, there, I mean, I'm sure that there have
22:30been hardships that you guys have gone through that the public doesn't know about, but there
22:33are others that the public does know about.
22:34And for instance, Nick, you getting diagnosed with type one diabetes at such a young age,
22:38you've talked about that.
22:40But, you know, I'm curious, like, what was your reaction to that?
22:43How did you kind of rally around Nick and, and, and help him through that?
22:46It was a scary time, you know, um, we were on, on the road in that van that I mentioned
22:52going up and down and playing shows.
22:54Uh, how I remember it is, you know, Joe, we saw Nick's back and something was not right.
23:01Like he was skin and bones and it was a scary thing.
23:04Like I thought I was going to lose my brother.
23:07Truly.
23:07I didn't know like any, I, I didn't understand how that was even possible.
23:12Yeah.
23:12There are other moments where, you know, Nick and Joe, you've come together for, for Kevin
23:16or Kevin and Nick, you've come together for Joe.
23:19Like, I mean, what, what are, what are some of these moments?
23:22Uh, my divorce, you know, these guys and many others being by my side through probably the
23:33most difficult time in my adult life thus far, navigating it while we're traveling.
23:42And touring and divorce is tough.
23:45It's like, it's, it's not easy for anybody.
23:48Um, and I think, you know, people are so quick to make assumptions and I'm just grateful that
23:57I have these guys and I have amazing family and friends.
23:59People are going through so much.
24:01And the fact that I could go perform and make people feel something and maybe distract them
24:06from what they're going through or their divorce for the two hours to come see a concert.
24:09I like, it gave me so much purpose, um, and that I could get it on the other side two-ish
24:17years later and be able to have a relationship with my co-parent, Sophie.
24:25And you realize you do everything you do for your kids.
24:30Like you, like I'll, I'll do anything for them.
24:33And, you know, there's a lot to navigate through that.
24:36But these guys had my back, whether they, whether I wanted to talk about it or I, they
24:41knew I did not want to talk about it that day.
24:42Um, you know, they, they showed up for me in a major way.
24:46And so it's like, as of course, I, that's the, the main answer.
24:50Yeah.
24:51Yeah.
24:52So you guys are out on tour now.
24:54Mm-hmm.
24:55Uh, you know, you talked about, uh, you know, you're, you're playing music and maybe helping
24:58distract people from, you know, whatever they might be going through or just giving them
25:01a good time.
25:02Are there any songs that people are responding to right now that you're like, huh, that surprises
25:07me backwards is just, there's a song on the album that, you know, it's, it's not, it was
25:13not a single it was, we weren't thinking it was going to be a single.
25:16It might be now.
25:28We saw a video on Tik TOK of a fan angrily singing the lyrics to the song.
25:34Um, and it's kind of like done a thing and started a trend.
25:38And now there are like 5,000 plus individuals have used the audio doing the same kind of
25:46trend and we're like, okay, like we didn't expect this one, but now we play it live.
25:51And the other day we played it live and you kind of know after 20 years, if you play a
25:55song and the crowd gets excited off the first lyric, you're like, oh, that's a familiar
26:01feeling of other songs we've had like sucker and you're 3000 where we're looking at
26:04each other and we're like, this could be one, you never know, but that's definitely
26:07off the new album that, that one's kind of shocking us.
26:10How much longer, uh, can we expect the Jonas Brothers to be the Jonas Brothers?
26:14That's a, that's a great, that's a great question that we, you know, we don't quite
26:17have the answer to, but then you see people like Coldplay and Rolling Stones and
26:20Yeah.
26:21Still doing it, man.
26:22Are you guys going to be 82 years old and bouncing around singing a SOS and-
26:24God willing, I don't know, but it's hard to remove ourselves from being brothers.
26:28So I don't know.
26:28That's right.
26:29That's a misleading question.
26:31It's an expensive lawyer.
26:32Yeah.
26:32Um, I think, I think we hope to do this for a long last time and we, it is 20 years,
26:39but we started pretty young.
26:40So we feel like we're, we're young enough to continue this and now we've, we, we have
26:45more reason to do it.
26:46So, okay.
26:47Last question.
26:48Uh, what advice, uh, would you give, uh, your younger selves when you were like 12, 15,
26:5417, you know, when you're, when, when this is just happening, if you could go back and
26:58you could say young Nick, young Joe, young Kevin, what would you tell them?
27:04I would tell myself it's okay to be a kid, you know, to keep that youthful spirit.
27:09Yeah.
27:10Um, I felt a lot of pressure to, that I put on myself to just act older and also because
27:15I was projecting, I wanted to be perceived as, as more mature than I was because I felt
27:19like that would make me feel like enough or something.
27:22My parents did an amazing job of not letting us miss out on our childhoods, but I think
27:26I didn't do a good job of just being a kid.
27:29Really?
27:30So that's what I would say.
27:31Joe.
27:32I would probably tell that silly, quiet kid.
27:39It's okay to be yourself.
27:41Like you're one day people are going to celebrate you for being authentically you.
27:46You don't have to try to fit in to a certain group in school and it's totally okay.
27:52I would say that the crush you had didn't call you back and had her sister break up with
27:58you.
27:59It's going to be okay, kid.
28:00I'd say one day you're going to get on stage and you can be wacky and silly and talk about
28:05things publicly that you like, you'll shock yourself and just go for it earlier.
28:12And you are allergic to shellfish.
28:14Kevin, bring us home.
28:16Remember to be happy.
28:18Remember to actually live in the moments because it's how I'm kind of wired and I work against
28:25it every day.
28:26I always think about the next thing before I'm even in the moment.
28:28So I'm kind of missing it.
28:30And I think I did that for so many years that I have like blank holes in my memory for this
28:36band.
28:37There are things I see a photo and go, I don't remember being there.
28:42And I think I missed moments because I was too focused on what I was about to do.
28:49And I think so just slow down, enjoy the time and celebrate the wins.
28:53Celebrate it all.
28:54You know, for so long, I don't think we did.
28:56And I think it's okay to be like, we did something great today, whatever it was, and be happy.
29:03Yeah.
29:04I think you should be more worried to be honest.
29:06Okay.
29:07All right.
29:08Nick, Joe, Kevin, the Jonas Brothers.
29:11Thank you for this conversation.
29:12Thank you, Esquire.
29:14I love this.
29:15They've got a record you should check out.
29:17They're on tour.
29:18They're going to be on tour again, coming to a city near you.
29:20Go see them.
29:21Thank you guys.
29:23Thanks, that's great.
29:25Thanks, everyone.
29:26Thanks, everyone.
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