coriander emotionalism: Jonas Brothers' Secret Boy-Band Weapon: Instruments

'It's a rare thing for a boy band. ... I don't know of a whole lot of boy bands that do that,' Nick Jonas tells MTV News.
By John Mitchell

Nick and Joe Jonas
Photo: Todd Williamson/ WireImage

The Jonas Brothers rode easily into the second round of our Battle of the Boy Bands, demolishing Menudo by taking 80 percent of the vote. But they are facing stiff competition from another group of three real-life brothers in round two: Hanson.

With the JoBros back in the studio working on a comeback album, and with each brother (Joe, Nick and Kevin) pursuing his own solo effort, they remain one of the most active bands in the competition. So why vote Jonas? Read on.

Strongest Chart Achievement
Well, it certainly doesn't get much better than having the #1 album in the country, and the Jo Bros have had two: 2008's A Little Bit Longer and 2009's Lines, Vines and Trying Times. Longer is the real jewel in the Brothers' crown, though, shifting an impressive 525,402 copies in its debut frame. On the strength of the hit single "Burnin' Up," the album held on to the #1 spot in its second week of release and continued to sell briskly on its way to going double platinum in the U.S.

A Little Bit Longer remains the band's best-selling album and even earned a spot on Rolling Stone's list of the best albums of 2008.

Standout Video
Since they didn't make much of an impression on mainstream audiences with their debut (see below), the brothers started anew when they joined Hollywood Records and amped up their pop sound for their self-titled sophomore album. The album's first single, "Year 3000," brought them plenty of mainstream attention, but its second single, "S.O.S.," kicked things up even further.

The song became the group's first top 20 hit, buoyed by its video, which was filmed on the RMS Queen Mary superliner in the summer of 2007. With well over 93 million views, the "S.O.S." video is easily the band's most-viewed clip.

Defining Tune
For its sheer crossover appeal, it's gotta be "Burnin' Up." The song is the JoBros biggest hit by far, debuting to strong enough digital sales to spur a #5 opening on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it their highest charting song to date. This single was a sales smash, moving more than 2 million digital downloads to become the band's second platinum-selling song after "S.O.S.," and it became a bona fide radio hit over the summer of 2008.

As much as we love our boy bands, they aren't often embraced by critics. However, this song, like its mothership album A Little Bit Longer, was. The acclaim Longer and "Burnin' Up" earned helped the JoBros along to their lone Grammy nomination (for Best New Artist) in 2009.

Debut Album
The Jonas Brothers' first album as a group — Nick released a solo album before he, Joe and Kevin united to create the band — was 2006's It's About Time. The record was pretty low-profile (to say the least), though it managed to make an impression in the Christian market and sell 62,000 copies in the U.S. The lack of interest the album generated for the band led to them being dropped from Columbia Records, though they were snapped up by Hollywood Records almost immediately.

While it didn't generate much heat for the boys in 2006, the album has become something of a collector's item for fans in the years since, and because it is currently out of print, copies are rare and expensive on online auction sites like eBay.

Biggest Competition
The Jonas Brothers are currently embroiled in a tough showdown with Hanson, another brotherly threesome with an affinity for playing guitars and penning their own tunes (both boy-band rarities). Hanson is decidedly '90s and the Bros are very of the aughts, meaning its unlikely they share a fanbase, but Hanson has one thing going for them that the JoBros don't: nostalgia. People have a way of romanticizing their fond recollections of the recent past, so the Jonases have a real battle here.

When we asked Nick Jonas why fans should vote for his group above all other boy bands in our bracket, he went straight for the very thing that sets the Jonas Brothers and their main competition, Hanson, apart. "I think that we are a good one to vote for because we play our own instruments," Nick said. "It's a rare thing for a boy band. ... I don't know of a whole lot of boy bands that do that."

Is that good enough to keep them in the competition? Only time will tell.

Voting in round two of MTV's Battle of the Boy Bands runs until noon ET on Monday, April 30. Winners are determined by fan votes, so if your favorite band made the cut, make sure you keep voting. Tune in to AMTV and MTV Hits for their boy-band video takeovers each day and make sure to spread the word on Twitter using the hashtag #BBB and like us on Facebook for updates!