Review: Jonas Brothers’ 2007 album is deeper than you think

 While my favorite Jonas Brothers album has always been their self-titled album, rewatching their Prime Video documentary “Chasing Happiness” for the fourth time made me really consider the deeper layers to the lyricism and musicianship on display.

Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas started out performing as young kids, singing and acting on Broadway and commercials. As the Jonas Brothers, they signed to Columbia Records and released their first album with them, “It’s About Time,” in 2006.

But their slowly growing fame became detrimental to the Jonas family’s livelihood. Their father, Kevin Jonas Sr., was scrutinized at the church he was a pastor at for his sons’ secular practices. In addition, touring costs and medical bills for Nick, who had been diagnosed with diabetes, caused him to max out his credit cards.

According to Kevin Sr., he informed the brothers one night that he would resign from the church, meaning the family would lose their home, and that Columbia had dropped them. This left the family of six broke, but it also led the Jonas Brothers to write what became their second album.

With that information, “Jonas Brothers,” released on Aug. 7, 2007 via Hollywood Records, could almost be viewed as a loose concept album based around the family’s hardship during that time. 

The album is filled with songs about love, heartbreak, abandonment and growing up; while they could be taken at surface level, many songs could be interpreted as being specifically about their life after Columbia.

The musical tone of the album also differs from their debut. While Columbia marketed the Jonas Brothers as a punk rock band, their early music leaned more towards power pop. The self-titled album, however, sonically fit right in with pop punk bands like Bowling for Soup and Fall Out Boy, though with more polished production courtesy of John Fields.

Opener “S.O.S.” sets the stage with rollicking guitars and fast drumming. The lyrics describe being dumped by a partner who didn’t take the relationship seriously, but could be taken as a kiss-off to Columbia for dropping them despite giving their all for the opportunity.

On the surface, “Hold On” and “Goodnight and Goodbye” are generic anthems about persevering and refusing to be pushed around, aided by light strings that add a sense of urgency. But they could be about the brothers’ experience moving out of the only home they had ever known in Wyckoff to a small house in Little Falls.

“That’s Just the Way We Roll” feels personal from the get-go. It could be drawing from their adjustment period upon moving to Little Falls, and serves to establish the family dynamic and act as a mission statement for anyone willing to listen. I firmly believe this song could’ve been the opener purely from its opening riff.

The acoustic guitar-driven “Hello Beautiful” brings a welcome sonic respite, and focuses on a narrator maintaining a long distance relationship. The boys also do some wishful thinking, as they dream of flying across the world and being able to return home afterwards.

“Still in Love with You” is a fun rocker about struggling to get over an ex due to lacking closure, complete with a great guitar solo from Kevin. It could be documenting the boys’ feelings about hearing secondhand that their label dropped them.

“Australia” is a playful highlight with some of Joe’s best vocals on the album. Following up on the previous track, it sees the band fully recovering from getting dumped and imagining a dream girl who will sweep them off their feet, as well as regaining hope that they can find a new record label to bring them out of their financial strife.

“Games” has some excellent musical moments, like overlapping vocals from Joe and Nick on the bridge. Lyrically it’s pretty self-explanatory, putting a foot down against mixed signals from a love interest, but could also regard the brothers’ reaction to being ousted from the church their father had helped build.

“When You Look Me in the Eyes” is one of the oldest Jonas songs, dating back to 2005, but it carries more weight here, particularly thanks to increased strings and Nick’s more mature voice. I can also better appreciate Kevin’s backing vocals in this recording. With lyrics about finding the one that makes you feel safe, its inclusion here demonstrates the band’s staying power.

“Inseparable” goes the hardest of any track, with its fast tempo and instrumentation fully evoking pop punk. It describes a deep devotion to a relationship, described by the brothers as being long distance, and could be read as a dedication to New Jersey as they leave it behind for LA.

Nick Jonas solo “Just Friends” may be the weakest link, but it’s still a fun, innocent romp with a relatively simple composition. It chronicles what it’s like to have an unrequited crush, and potentially even the endless possibilities presented to the band by Disney.

Closer “Hollywood” is the track most explicitly about their transition from Columbia to Hollywood Records. Nick and Joe trade vocals effectively here, as the trio’s camaraderie is at its most palpable. 

The lyrics reinforce their commitment to each other and their music as they look forward to a bright future, a theme further explored on bonus covers “Year 3000” and “Kids of the Future.”

The “Jonas Brothers” album is one they can never replicate, due to its close ties to a time and circumstance they’re lucky to never have to deal with again. Ironically, this is thanks to the album’s massive success that secured their place in music.

While subsequent records were also fueled by exhaustion and dissatisfaction with life, it was a different type of exhaustion and dissatisfaction than what this record drew from. Future love songs would actually be about love, and the specifics would come from individual experiences rather than shared ones.

In retrospect, I enjoy the self-titled record more than any other Jonas Brothers album because it remains the one where they sound the most unified.