This is not a drill, the Jonas Brothers have reunited after 5 long years of taking a break. Please allow me a moment of extreme fangirling – *screams in my corner of cyberspace*. Pardon my overreaction, though I think anyone who grew up during the height of the Jonas Brothers’ stardom is probably suffering from the same effects, especially after the release of their new music video, Sucker (which does not refer to a lollipop).
Upon watching the video, immediately I recognised faces besides the Jonas trio, and these faces belonged to their respective significant others. After Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra tied the knot last year, they were pretty much in the news constantly. The topic of discussion was mainly their age difference, her insanely long wedding veil as well as their exuberant wedding celebrations. It was the same thing when Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner celebrated their engagement. It is only Kevin who is a bit more private in his personal relationship. The fact that he and wife Danielle Jonas (formerly Danielle Deleasa) have two children together and I didn’t even have a clue is testament to the more subdued nature of their relationship, especially in comparison to his brothers. You would think it doesn’t matter, but the music video would prove you wrong.
It is fairly obvious that the video was edited based on who the more popular couples are. Hence, the scenes between Priyanka and Nick took up the bulk, Sophie and Joe a close second, with Kevin and Danielle finishing a distant third. The camera rarely lingers on Danielle, where we merely get a brief shot of her before the focus turns to the other couples. It makes sense, since fans would also be looking out for their favourite coupling. Scrolling through the comments is a great indicator on who people are focusing on – no shocker that Nick and Priyanka are drawing everyone’s eye with their cuteness.
This is not the first time the Jonas Brothers have released a video with a concept like this. Their video Burning Up featured Selena Gomez, who Nick was dating at the time, and Danielle made an appearance in that video as well – though she wasn’t Kevin’s wife at that point. While it is adorable to include girlfriends/fiances/wives in music videos, the risk they all have to take on is the possible transient nature of these relationships. Gomez and Nick are no longer together, which might make looking back on such creations a tad difficult. Now thanks to YouTube, music videos have developed greater longevity, resulting in constant consumption of what may now be a failed relationship. Jennifer Lopez in a way immortalised the Bennifer saga by including Ben Affleck in her Jenny from the Block video.
Sucker touches on a trend that celebrities have been adopting, which is the commercialisation of their relationships. No one does this better than Queen Bey and her King Jay-Z. The interesting thing is that they don’t sell couple goals; their focus is on the realness of their relationship. Becky with the nice hair gave both of them plenty of material for their music, with all of us greedily digesting the details and applauding them for being so real about their relationship troubles.
You can be successful in your own right, however shining a spotlight on your relationship can propel you forward. Just look at John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. Legend is a talented musician, but think about it this way – how many of us watched All of Me to sigh at the romance of him singing this song to Teigen? It is a good song; her presence in the video just elevates its popularity. Other examples include Ansel Elgort featuring girlfriend Violetta Komyshan in his music video for Thief and the unforgettable Pillowtalk with Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid.
So yes, I am happy that the Jonas Brothers are back, but I do think these celebrities can be a bit hypocritical in these types of endeavours. They demand a personal life and get angry with the prying, yet they themselves have invited the public into these private spaces. It calls to mind singers/musicians like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, who get antagonised when they are asked questions about the songs they pen about significant others. If you create content in a way that invites discussion, questions about your relationship then become fair game. I guess that’s the price you pay for entry into the world of celebrity.
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