Jonas Brothers: What to Know About the ‘SNL’ Musical Guests

Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas, better known as the Jonas Brothers, are the musical guests for this weekend’s Saturday Night Live episode, hosted by actress Emma Thompson.

The three brothers spent the past six years pursuing solo projects, but reunited earlier this year to work on a new album, Happiness Begins. In March, they released the single “Sucker,” and followed it up with “Cool” in April.

Happiness Begins comes out on June 7 and is the first new Jonas Brothers album since 2009’s Lines, Vines and Trying Times. It is their first overall release since 2013’s LiVe, a collection of recordings from their original reunion tour and studio recordings from a scrapped fifth studio album.

Before the group hits the stage at Studio 8H, here’s what you need to know about the group’s latest project and their career.

Photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

‘Sucker’ is Their First No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100

Although the brothers have been releasing music since 2006 and were popular Disney Channel stars in the late 2000s, they never reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 until this year.

The anticipation for “Sucker” helped drive the song to a debut at the top of the chart, making them the first boy band with a Hot 100 topper since B2K’s 2003 hit “Bump, Bump, Bump” with P. Diddy. “Sucker” also topped Billboard‘s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.

The song’s music video includes appearances from Kevin’s wife Danielle, Nick’s wife Priyanka Chopra and Joe’s now-wife Sophie Turner.

Nick Began Talking About a Reunion in 2017

The last time the Jonas Brothers tried to record a full album, the end result was not what fans wanted. A fifth studio album was in the works in 2013, but only a handful of the recordings landed on their live album LiVe. The capital “V” was a reference to the cancelled album’s title.

“We all wanted to create something on our own and were just trying to force it into what was going on. We were going through the motions, without the heart of it,” Joe said of 2013 in a Billboard interview. “The way we communicated to each other wasn’t healthy anymore.”

While Nick was the one who pushed for a hiatus, he started taking about a reunion during the family’s Christmas gathering in 2017.

“There’s a different magic when we’re together that I wasn’t experiencing,” Nick said. “So I started sprinkling some Jonas Brothers songs into my set, but always thought, ‘This would be a lot better with the other Jonas Brothers.’”

A month later, they gathered with their management team and the reunion idea started gelling while they began filming a documentary about themselves.

New Songs Reference Joe’s Relationship With Sophie Turner and Nick’s With Priyanka Chopra

Nick told Billboard the new album includes references to the brothers’ romantic relationships. He said the song “Hesitate” is Joe’s “love letter” to Turner. “I Believe” covers Nick’s own whirlwind romance with Chopra.

“People saying that we move too fast/But I been waiting for a reason, ain’t no turning back,” Nick sings in “I Believe.”

The album’s release will come just weeks after Nick surprisingly married Turner in Las Vegas after the Billboard Music Awards.

Kevin Said ‘Happiness Begins’ is the Album ‘I’m Most Proud of’

On April 22, Kevin showed off the album cover for Happiness Begins, with the three brothers laying next to a pool, looking out at the mountains ahead.

“After 7 years of not working together & finding ourselves we’re back to give you our journey in album form,” Kevin wrote on Twitter. “Out of all the albums we’ve done I’m most proud of this one. Wish you could have it now, but you’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.”

The Brothers’ Happiness Begins Tour Kicks off in June

The brothers will be heading out on tour to support Happiness Begins, starting this summer. It kicks off at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York on June 14.

The long tour is scheduled to continue through Oct. 18, with a finale at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Tickets for the first batch of shows went on sale earlier this month.

Bebe Rexha and Jordan McGraw will be joining the group on tour.

‘Chasing Happiness’ Chronicles the Group’s Reunion

On June 4, Amazon will release Chasing Happiness, the documentary chronicling the Jonas Brothers’ career and comeback.

The film traces their beginnings in New Jersey and being raised by a pastor. It also touches on early difficulties in their career, like being dropped from Columbia Records just as their father left the church. They were signed to Disney, where they found their biggest success, but Nick eventually wanted to move on.

“What hurts the most is that it came from Nick,” Joe tearfully said in one scene. “He is my best friend.”

“There were moments I thought, ‘They’ll never speak to me again,’” Nick admitted.

Eventually, the guys put aside their differences and reunited.

“I found that success isn’t always tied to fame and fortune,” Nick said as clips of his wedding to Chopra, Joe with Turner and Kevin with one of his children play. “I really want to have a second chance with them.”

Nick Said the Brothers Spent a Year in Therapy Before Reuniting

While on The Late Late Show with James Corden in March, Nick said the trio spent a year in therapy before the reunion to figure out what the next chapter of their career would be like.

“We literally spent a year basically doing therapy, working through some things, and figuring out what this chapter would look like,” Nick explained. “We’ve had to be really open and honest. There are things in the past that bothered us from time to time, even in our performances that we would do.”

Once they started performing together, the fun instantly came back.

“It was amazing after the first couple of songs,” Nick said. “I was so paranoid those first few two or three songs they would be mad at me after this, that I was not able to enjoy it. Then at a certain point I looked at them and thought, ‘This is amazing. I’m going to have the best time ever.’ And we did. A great show.”

Sophie Turner and Priyanka Chopra Had a Say on the Group’s New Music

In the Billboard interview, the brothers said Chopra and Turner both proved to be essential soundboards when putting together the new record.

“Priyanka and Sophie love pop music and listen to Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits or Apple Music all the time,” Nick explained. “So they were a really good gauge, like, ‘Does this sound good?’”

Others instrumental with making the album work were Ryan Tedder, Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Justin Tranter and other in-demand producers.

“We would write a song in about 90 minutes. We would cut it in the second hour. It would be demo’d by dinner,” Tedder said of the sessions. “Sam Smith and Adele are maybe the only other acts I’ve ever worked with where they’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh. It’s 6 p.m. Let’s call it a day.’”