Lines, Vines And Trying Times - The Jonas Brothers

Even though the Jonas Brothers released "A Little Bit Longer" not even a year ago, the Jonas Brothers didn't fail to put out another. In this album, the brothers are going for a more mature and grown up sound than ever before. The lyrics are stronger and the music that follows is just as strong. Many new leaps for the Brothers are taken in this album. The new album starts out with a stronger opening than last year's album; "World War III" sets you up for the rest of the album.

The song “Before the Storm” features Miley Cyrus, an old friend of the Jonas Brothers who she presented on her show and brought them on her Best of Both Worlds tour back in 2007. Nick Jonas, the youngest member of the group that was closer to Miley than the others, states that the song tells about their story together and that it was great to reconnect with an old friend. On the other hand, “Much Better”, seems to be taken from the middle Jonas’, Joe Jonas’, relationship problems. The lyrics, ”Got a rep for breakin’ hearts, now I’m done with superstars, and the tears on her guitar, I’m not bitter.”, takes an apparent jab at Jonas’ ex, Taylor Swift. It also takes a stand for Jonas’ recent girlfriend, Camilla Belle, saying, ”But now I see, everything I’d ever need, is the girl in front of me, she’s much better.”

The brothers also took a new turn, having a song with the rapper Common called “Don’t Charge Me for the Crime”. The lyrics are more mature than any of the other songs, talking about a pistol on the dash and one of their “friends” robbing a bank. The brothers themselves said in their lyric booklet, ”’Don’t Charge Me...’ is a story about getting roped into situations beyond your control. A friend calls you needing a ride and unbeknownst to you he’s just robbed a bank. Being the good friend that you are, you pick him up and involve yourself beyond your control. This all leads up to you wanting to do the right thing-but even more so wanting to help those around you into doing the right thing. - (JB).” People Magazine called this song, ”A cringe-worthy collaboration”.

Three of the more serious songs on the album are, “Black Keys”, “Turn Right” and “Don’t Speak”. “Black Keys” has the soft and sad lyrics, ”And the black keys never looked so beautiful, and a perfect rainbow never seemed so dull.” According to Nick Jonas, this was the first song he had ever written on the black keys of the piano. “Turn Right” talks about you falling of the track for your life, using the metaphor of a racetrack. “Don’t Speak” talks about how someone had been lied to by a fool for so long and that they didn’t notice so many things because they weren’t “reading between the lines” and they were “blinded by the light”. All in all, this new Jonas Brothers album takes on a new sound for the trio.