Jonas Brother

It’s About Time

[2/5] The lead track from the Jonas Brothers’ debut album–and, yes, they really are a band of brothers, hailing from New Jersey–is the pop-rock sugar rush “I Am What I Am.” But as It’s About Time plays on, you’ll quickly realize these teens have no idea who they are. One minute, the boys are trying to be Blink-182 (“Mandy”); the next, they’re a ska-pop band (“6 Minutes”), and when the moment is right, they’re sappy balladeers who play the God card (“Dear God”). Granted, they’re young–little bro Nick’s voice hasn’t even changed yet; he sounds like a Hanson brother/Gwen Stefani mashup-so that confusion could be excused. It’s just that It’s About Time is so painfully formulaic, it sounds like it came right off the Radio Disney/tween-comedy-soundtrack assembly line. And there’s never an excuse for bringing more of that into the world.
(COLUMBIA/DAYLIGHT) J.R. Griffin