| student | Jonas Brothers | NS |
| title | A Little Bit Longer | |
| label | Polydor | |
| myspace | www.myspace.com/jonasbrothers |
Without sounding too much like my mother, it occurred to me recently that times are certainly changing fast these days. You go away for a few weeks and when you come back, there’s a whole new face to the music industry. After seven weeks in India this summer, I was looking forward to my return home. This is mainly because India is a country in which the most flesh you see on TV is the tiny sliver of torso between the top and skirt of Shilpa Shetty’s sari as she presents India’s highly censored version of Big Brother, Bigg Boss (yes, the one in which Jade Goody was informed that she had cervical cancer in the diary room – truly gripping television).
Once safely back on the Emerald Isle, I turned on the VMAs in the hope of seeing some good old-fashioned Western raunch – perhaps the Pussycat Dolls writhing in far too little clothing or even Justin “they don’t call me Trousersnake for nothing” Timberlake crooning along sexily, with maybe a few added pelvic thrusts. Instead, I was met with three so-fresh-faced-it’s-slightly-creepy young men wearing abstinence bands belting out infuriatingly quaint power pop and speaking out against sex before marriage.
The Jonas Brothers, it seems, have been taking the music scene by storm while I’ve been away, and having achieved unbridled success with their first two albums – It’s About Time and Jonas Brothers – in America, Europe is now the target audience for album number three, A Little Bit Longer. There’s really not much to be said for this album of disposable pop which includes a torrent of nauseating tracks like their new faux-funky single Burnin’ Up and the title track A Little Bit Longer which (I kid you not) is about Nick Jonas’ discovery that he has a diabetes. The track Video Girl has fast become a favourite with fans of the brothers as the three lash out against superficial girls who only want fame and money. “You know it’s bad when your mamma doesn’t like her,” sings Kevin Jonas. No Kevin, you know it’s bad when the group you’re listening to still use the term “mamma.”
Maeve Storey
