In addition to the governing triumvirate of mid-late 2000s Disney Channel that was Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato, there were the Jonas Brothers — a trio of brothers that blended a Wal-Mart-ready take on punk-pop musical and fashion aesthetics into a litany of bangers were able to genuinely crossover into the general pop culture zeitgeist. With a career that boasted milestone moments like platinum Top 40 hits (“Year 3000”) and a Billboard 200-charting debut studio album (It’s About Time) before officially signing to Hollywood Records, Jonas Brothers have often existed and operated peripherally to the packaging and sheen of The Disney Channel. Their look and sound were consistent before they started to regularly (and officially) partner with the Mouse House, but with the Camp Rock series and their own eponymous two-season television series, the Jonas Brothers have become emblematic of an era of Disney Channel that defined the childhoods of the youngest millennials and the eldest of Gen Z.
Before their formidable comeback with 2019’s Happiness Begins, the Jonas Brothers notched six Top 5 albums (with two of them reaching the summit), a pair of Top 10 singles on the Hot 100, and a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. From “S.O.S.” and “Lovebug” to “When You Look Me In The Eyes” and “Burnin’ Up,” the Jonas Brothers have spent nearly two decades coloring their sonic palette with solid swings at rock-tinged pop fare that pay homage to everyone from Fall Out Boy to Elvis Costello. During a hiatus that lasted from 2013 to 2019, a period that gifted us contemporary pop radio staples like Nick Jonas’ “Jealous” and DNCE’s “Cake By The Ocean,” the Jonas Brothers slyly toed the line between cementing their solo viability and remaining icons of a hyperspecific time period of teen pop music. Once they returned with a No. 1 single (“Sucker”) and a No. 1 album (Happiness Begins), the brother-band figured out how to believably mature their sound and carve a lane from themselves in a music and cultural landscape completely incongruent to the one that fostered their rise to prominence — and a little reliance on nostalgia never hurt anyone!
In honor of the release of the band’s sixth studio album, The Album, Uproxx has ranked the Jonas Brothers best songs.
40. “I Am What I Am”
Between the cutesy reimaging of Jimmy Eat World’s harsher edges and Nick Jonas’ prepubescent, borderline countertenor voice piercing through the chorus, “I Am What I Am” is nothing short of adorable. Taken from their very first album, the track is a cheekily self-aware anthem of security in one’s sense of self — but it all occurs in the mind-bending vacuum that is adolescence.
39. “6 Minutes”
Admittedly, this song starts off a bit shaky (it sounds like it wants to pull off some weird airport reggae pastiche in the verses), but once the chorus swells with markedly tighter songwriter and Nick’s impassioned vocals on the upper harmony, everything gels together.
38. “Remember This”
This foot-stomping ode to the internalization of significant moments balances quieter verses with a shrill barrage of carefully placed syllables in the hook. Their staccato delivery plays well against the chugging synths, while the similarities of their tones make for a mix that feels relatively more immersive than their past singles.
37. “7:05”
Tucked away in the back half of their oft-disregarded debut lies “7:05” — a decidedly maudlin ode to teenage heartbreak sung by a genuinely pained Nick Jonas. It’s an early showcase of his potential to emerge as the strongest vocalist in the band.
36. “Comeback”
A song that doubles as a prelude to romantic reconciliation and a tracing of the symbiotic dynamic behind the band’s musical comeback, “Comeback” flies high thanks to the irresistible nature of each brother’s vocal choices in their respective choruses.
35. “Jersey”
This reflective ode to their hometown finds the Jonas Brothers transitioning into campfire finger-picked acoustic bliss. “To each other / If we’re broken / Rather be honest than unspoken,” Nick belts in the bridge ¬— voice bursting at the seams with feverish conviction.
34. “Lonely”
This selection from Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 1 — Snake Oil, finds the band lending their pop gloss to the Grammy-winning EDM producer’s fusion of country and dance. It’s not a world-changing pop song, but it’s pretty damn catchy which is just fine enough.
33. “Play My Music”
You truly can’t go wrong with a song about playing and listening to music; it’s love for the craft at one of the highest forms. On this selection from the soundtrack for the first Camp Rock film, the brothers entrench themselves in the heavily manicured pomp and authenticity of their fictional counterparts. “Music’s got control / And I’m never letting go, no, no / I just wanna play my music all night long,” they belt.
32. “Who’s In Your Head”
This standalone single offers more of the band’s pop sheen — this time accented by R&B vocal flourishes and a more nuanced take on the throes of infidelity. From the anxious nature of the lyrics to the playful use of ad-libs, “Who’s In Your Head” drives home just how long, yet rewarding, the process was for the Jonas Brothers to consistently realize their potential as pure-pop maestros.
31. “Cool”
“Cool,” the second single from Happiness Begins, is the kind of frothy nothing-going-on-behind-the-eyes pop songs that make the world go round. There’s a certain charm in the H&M-ready energy of the handclaps in tandem with Nick’s robust falsetto.
30. “Goodnight And Goodbye”
An unexpectedly busy arrangement pairs with Nick’s ridiculously nasal tone to become a striking, rollicking dedication to the art of ending a relationship with one clean cut. Easily one of the most interesting drumming moments in their discography, “Goodnight And Goodbye” reinforces the brother’s collective genuine music prowess.
29. “Mandy”
The Jonas Brothers’ delightfully bratty debut single is the perfect snapshot of clean punk-pop. Free from smarmy innuendo and accented with the whiny vocal fry of a teenaged Joe Jonas, “Mandy” smartly displayed the band’s pop-rock sensibilities and the brand of innocence that has shaped their public persona for the better part of two decades and counting.
28. “Love Her”
Essentially the thematic inverse and musical twin of Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” this selection from Happiness Begins cuts through the myriad sonic experiments of the band’s comeback album with its focus on simplicity. Finger snaps, delicate guitar strums, and intentionally restrained vocal performances make “Love Her” one of the more unique listening experiences in the band’s catalog.
27. “Don’t Throw It Away”
Sitting somewhere between ’80s pop and Paramore’s After Laughter, this new wave-inflected number from Happiness Begins finds the Jonas Brothers riding bubbly synths and chant-anchored choruses. “Don’t throw it away, your mind is messin’ with your head again / Instead of walkin’ away we should give it a break ’til we know / what to say / Don’t throw it away,” Nick and Joe croon.
26. “Fly With Me”
Rousing strings evoke the dual whimsy of Tinker Bell’s fluttering wings and taking a chance on love in this number from Lines, Vines And Trying Times. “If we chase the stars to lose our shadow / Peter Pan and Wendy turned out fine / So won’t you fly with me,” Nick and Joe sing in earnest unison.
25. “Wings”
Taking a page from the shape-shifting song structures of AJR and Quinn XCII, Jonas Brothers delve into deep praise for where each brother sources his inspiration — his wife. It’s an uncanny testament to how devotion to purity politics has grounded Jonas Brother’s public image, while their music has grown into something comparatively more nuanced.
24. “World War III”
With overzealous horns that match the inherent campiness of the “World War III” metaphor, this opener for 2009’s Lines, Vines And Trying Times bends the grandiosity of Queen with the maudlin tendencies of Panic! At the Disco. It’s quite a bizarre song that somehow believably finds genuine charm in its quirks.
23. “Heart And Soul”
During their Disney era, Jonas Brothers were always more aligned with the conventions of movie stars over television stars. Alongside fellow Grammy-nominated Disney Channel alum Demi Lovato, the brothers starred in a pair of wildly successful Camp Rock films in which they played, you guessed it, a pop-rock boy band. Then again, who else would Disney Channel choose to sell lines like, “But if you can jump like David Lee Roth / Or pump your fist like you’re Bruce the Boss / If you got heart and soul / You can rock ‘n’ roll?”
22. “Video Girl”
A musical damnation so bruising it feels left-field, “Video Girl” coasts over its glimmery pop-rock foundation to deliver pointed jabs at groupies. “Get out of my face, get out of my space / Get some class and kiss the past,” they snarl in the chorus.
21. “Tonight”
This single from A Little Bit Longer, which also became their second Top 10 hit in the U.S., rides electro-rock influences the punctuate the melancholy mood of this anthem of accepting that some problems take a longer time to meet their solutions.
20. “Five More Minutes”
Yet another suggestive anthem of heat to add to their post-purity ring oeuvre, “Five More Minutes” finds the band perfectly wielding their piercing, fluttery falsettos to convey the heightened drama of sensual stolen moments. “Right now, you just look too good to me / I cannot fathom letting you leave,” Nicki winkingly croons.
19. “Poison Ivy”
Ornate instrumentation and funky chord progressions ground this thinly veiled ode to the complicated dynamics of getting lied to about an STI infection. It’s prickly lyrical fare that the brothers handle well, but it’s that abrupt modulation towards the end of the song that helps it fully lean into the theatricality of pop-punk.
18. “A Little Bit Longer”
A moving ballad entirely sung and penned by Nick, the title track from the band’s third studio album is a tearjerker that eventually finds triumph in hope and perseverance. From the gentle piano in the song’s intro to the rousing guitars in the final chorus, this album closer is a strong showcase of smart tonal and emotional dynamics.
17. “Rollercoaster”
Albums that don’t have title track, but instead have songs whose lyrics reference the album’s title are always dope — and “Rollercoaster” gets automatic points for being that song on Happiness Begins. Moreover, the militaristic percussion and high-octane hook build a solid pop song from the foundation of fun.’s gargantuan anthems.
16. “Paranoid”
On this comparatively more mature take on pop-punk, the brothers pair chugging bass guitar and staccato percussion to underscore the anxiety of the song’s lyrics. “Just might be paranoid / I’m avoiding the lines ’cause they just might split / Can someone stop the noise? / I don’t know what it is, but it just don’t fit,” Nick and Joe wail in a call and response dripping with distress.
15. “Hold On”
With staccato electric guitars and strings cutting through the sweetness of the second half of the chorus, “Hold On” fully realizes the arena rock potential of the Jonas Brothers. A smart transition from the overt naïveté of their debut album, “Hold On” boasts the beginning of the band’s penchant for instrumental arrangements that grow increasingly grandiose as the song rides out its runtime.
14. “What A Man Gotta Do”
There has always been an element of self-awareness in the band’s music that has allowed their work to age a bit better than that of their peers. This standalone single from 2020 quite literally sounds like a song a contestant would perform a jive to on Dancing With The Stars, and the brothers effectively channel that campiness into Nick’s flustered choruses and the ’80s movie-referencing music video.
13. “Used To Be”
A downcast Post Malone-lite ballad decorated with flashes of country music influences, “Used To Be” finds the brothers fully leaning into the boundlessness of their new adult sound. They swagger across the Louis Bell and Ryan Tedder-helmed soundscape free from the awkwardness that sometimes grounded Lines, Vines And Trying Times, meandering through the haze of 2019 bedroom pop aesthetics.
12. “X”
Karol G isn’t necessarily the first artist to come to mind when brainstorming a list of potential Jonas Brothers collaborators, but she does indeed have a song with the band. Taken from 2020’s XV two-pack, “X” find the brothers teaming up with the Latin superstar to provoke an ex-lover. Sultry brass adds familiar flourishes to this surprisingly successful stab at Top 40-approved Latin pop crossover splendor.
11. “Only Human”
A near facsimile of Maroon 5’s “One More Night,” this is synth-laden brass-accented ode to steamy dancefloor scenes is an easy standout on Happiness Begins. Both Nick and Joe draw on the breathless falsetto of “Burnin’ Up” to breathe some urgency into the relatively languid melody of the pre-chorus.
10. “Send It On”
All jokes aside: Miley, Selena, Demi, and the JoBros gave MJ and Quincy Jones a run for their money for music’s best joint charity single. Paired with female vocalists for the first time, the brothers have something to set their depth and textures relative to, making for an emotional set of vocal performances from Nick and Joe.
9. “Year 3000”
A cover of Busted’s original that functioned as both the second single from the band’s debut studio album and the lead single from their eponymous sophomore studio album, “Year 3000” is most people’s introduction to the JoBros. Cheeky lyric updates to fit the times (they’re outselling Kelly Clarkson instead of Michael Jackson!) pair well with tamer takes on Busted’s sexually suggestive lyrics. It isn’t an easy task to deliver a cover that retains the integrity of the original while simultaneously adding new nuances to your own catalog, but the Jonas Brothers pulled it off.
8. “Leave Before You Love Me”
Another Post Malone-indebted track about assuming the villainous role in a poorly communicated hookup situation, “Leave Before You Love Me” is one of the stronger straightforward pop songs in the band’s discography. The song serves as the band’s first collaboration with Marshmello, and a testament to the chokehold dream-pop and synth-pop have had on Top 40 in the first few years of the new decade.
7. “Pushin’ Me Away”
One of the strongest songs in their discography, “Pushin’ Me Away” is a look at how well the Jonas Brothers can pull off straightforward pop-punk. With whiny vocals reminiscent of blink-182 and a final chorus that swells into a lofty crescendo of ever-multiplying instruments, this overlooked track from A Little Bit Longer is a hidden jewel.
6. “S.O.S.”
Taking full advantage of the tried-and-true method of mixing heavy lyrics with a danceable tempo, Jonas Brothers repurpose the Morse Code signal into a cry for help in a relationship that inflicts more blows than either person realizes. The opening track for their first Hollywood Records album resides primarily in both Nick and Joe’s falsettos, but it’s the slight octave drop in the bridge that truly rounds out the impending gloom of the sonic environment.
5. “Hesitate”
A heartfelt reflection of the fearlessness that comes with existing in the arena of love, Nick and Joe deliver some of their most touching and earnest vocal performances to date on “Hesitate.” Familiar chord progressions add to the sense of nostalgia and devotion that comes with the conversation around the intricate ecosystem of emotion that governs long-term romance. “I thank the oceans for giving me you / You saved me once and now I’ll save you too I won’t hesitate for you,” Joe belts.
4. “Sucker”
This is it. This is the song that successfully launched the Jonas Brothers revival, earned the band their first Grammy nomination in over a decade (Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, 2020), and debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100. A breezy pop-rock jam that exudes the sensuousness so much of their public imagery used to be constructed against, “Sucker” is one of the best-constructed pop songs of the latter half of the past decade. Stuffed between their tightest harmonies ever and tasteful guitars are cheeky whistles — the kind of idiosyncrasy that grounds the brightest of pop smashes.
3. “Burnin’ Up”
If there is a sweet spot between Fall Out Boy’s rock edge and Maroon 5’s barely concealed horniness, it’s “Burnin’ Up.” Everything clicks — Nick’s sweaty falsetto, Joe’s relentlessly histrionic vocal performance, the groovy electric guitars, and, yes, even Big Rob’s ridiculous rap. This is one of their most successful and enduring hits for a reason.
2. “Lovebug”
The progeny of Jason Mraz’s rambling coffee-shop ditties and the poppier edges of Paramore’s glossiest late ’00s work alike, “Lovebug” finds the Jonas Brothers embracing a quieter approach song construction. Essentially an acoustic puppy-eyed love song turned wailing pop-rock anthem, “Lovebug” allows Nick and Joe to explore the emotional breadth of their respective ranges over lyrics that finally give them something to sink their teeth into.
1. “When You Look Me In The Eyes”
As quiet as its kept, the Jonas Brothers have one of the best schmaltzy arena rock power ballads of the 2000s. From the soaring legato of the verses to that anthemic flashlights-in-the-air chorus, “When You Look Me In The Eyes” remains the best ballad in their catalog. “When I hold you in my arms / I know that it’s forever / I just gotta let you know / I never wanna let you go,” Nick belts. It’s the kind of mawkish fluff that a purity ring-bound family band is tailor-made to sell with maximum bathos.
