I had much better things to do, but somehow, there I still sat in the dark cave of my bedroom, eating a microwaved waffle and watching the colorful countdown of a long-awaited reunion.
I had pregamed all day long, studying the 2008 hits that once marked my childhood. Everywhere I went, people were playing the same songs I jammed to in the back of my mom’s snot-green Dodge minivan. We all had been waiting for this day to come for almost a decade, and now, right before our eyes, it was here and nothing like anyone expected.
On March 1, the world lost their minds when a sudden Instagram post revealed that the Disney gods of boy bands were returning from their nearly ten-year hibernation. The Jonas Brothers were finally making their way back into the spotlight with the release of their new single and music video, “Sucker,” and teenage girls all around the world were anxiously waiting for the clock to hit midnight to see the faces of the boys who once stole their hearts.
Fanfictions from years prior suddenly resurrected, and teaser videos flooded our Instagrams all day long. Finally, midnight came upon us, and we saw the faces of the three boys from the J-14 and TigerBeat posters that used to hang on our walls.
If we’re being honest, the song is no artistic masterpiece, and the music video is just uncomfortable enough to make me second-guess everything I thought I knew about the Jo Bros.
But I watched it five times in a row.
I watched it five times in a row because I wanted to remember what it felt like to dream about Joe Jonas taking me to my fifth grade Valentine’s Day dance and watching all the popular girls at Kossuth Middle School envy me. I watched it five times in a row because I wanted to remember the feeling of angry tears rolling down my face when my brother told me that Camp Rock was trash.
Flashbacks fill my head of a ten-year-old Suzanne — a ten-year-old Suzanne with a bob haircut and neon pink braces. Love –– in her naïve ten-year-old mind –– looked like Joe Jonas singing to an insecure Demi Lovato in the final scene of Camp Rock, and that was all she needed to know that love still existed in this world.
Ten-year-old Suzanne is just the one of millions who fell prey to the power of these teenage boys with rebelliously long bangs that covered their eyes (can you say swoon??).
But those boys were now men, men with wives and children, and I watched with heartbreak as these boys, who were the innocent crushes of my vulnerable preteen heart, suddenly became adults.
And I guess that meant I suddenly became an adult too.
I spent my late Friday night watching an irrelevant music video because it wasn’t about the music at all. It was about remembering what it was like to be a middle schooler again — a middle schooler with a slightly alarming obsession with three brothers who never knew she existed.
One glance at social media last Friday and all anyone would see were the faces of the Jonas Brothers, and I think, at the root of it all, a nostalgic longing to be that desperate middle schooler again is what made millions of fans remember their dedication to three men who were forgotten for almost ten years.
In a way, we were all trying to relive the days when Obama was elected president and Disney ruled our televisions.
We will never forget the never-ending drama of the love hexagon between Selena, Miley, Demi, Taylor, Nick and Joe (Kevin was just always there).
Joe dated Taylor. Nick dated Miley. Then Joe broke it off with Taylor (through a 27-second phone call) to date Demi. Then Nick broke up with Miley, and a giant scandal arose when Selena was in the “Burnin’ Up” music video with none other than Nick himself. Joe and Demi broke it off soon after but “remained friends” (*cue eye roll*).
Now, the trio has settled down, gotten married to none of their previous lovers and had children who look like mini Kevins — they are just your typical 20-and-30-year-old millionaires.
Nevertheless, the Jonas Brothers are back in our lives, and the world simply can’t get enough of it. They have made sure their fans know that they are back for the long haul and “Sucker” is not their only new project.
They announced right after the new single released that fans can look forward to their upcoming documentary on Amazon Prime, and they performed together for the first time in years at a secret show in The Box Theater in New York City.
Though they will never be the same kids whose songs played on repeat in all of our iPod Nanos, somewhere under the new clothes and much better hairstyles are the same three teenagers that charmed us with their witty jokes and mischievous smiles.
And somewhere under our concealer-covered, dark-circled eyes and business casual clothes are the same ten-year-olds who sharpied angsty quotes on our converses to make them look “grunge” and dreamed that some cute boys from a band on Disney Channel would be the ones to have our first kisses.
No matter the years or the countless hairstyles, the Jonas Brothers will always be a part of our lives. They will always be a part of our lives because after all, those awkward, geeky and love-blind middle-school daydreamers will always be a part of our lives too. We can try to ignore the “ugly middle school days,” but in reality, they are the ones who made us into the young adults we are today.
Now, we just have to wait for the One Direction reunion.
