The Jonas Brothers Debut ‘The Album’ to Their “Incredibly Uplifting” Fans

The title reflects the goals they’ve set for themselves this time around, especially in an industry that is changing constantly. “It’s hard to know anymore what quantifies anything as a success story or not,” Nick said. “I think our goal is always to play big exciting shows, but also to push ourselves creatively, and do something that we’re really proud of.”

For the last few weeks, the brothers have been teasing “Waffle House,” another song off The Album, with humorous videos on TikTok. The song is based on the memories of late-night dinners at the famous 24-hour restaurant chain, when the entire family would decompress and occasionally squabble. (On Thursday night, Kevin’s nine-year-old daughter Alena attended the show with some friends, and they filmed a version of the video the brothers did a few nights before.) 

In a certain way, the song is classic Jonas Brothers—it’s got a funny premise, a catchy chorus, a few different spots for Nick and Joe to show off their impressive vocal ranges, and a true story at the center. But it’s also a real departure for the group as well. Instead of the sweet pop-punk of their early years, or the smoother grooves of their 2019 album, it’s a throwback to an earlier era of rock where the choruses were huge, and on Saturday night the backup singers were a key part of its ability to bring the house down.

They do have fond memories at the Waffle House and slipped into banter when asked about their personal orders. Joe said he keeps it simple. “You don’t go to your favorite burger place to order, like, a taco. You go there to order the best burger, right? So you gotta go and order a waffle. My joke back in the day was always, ‘Do you have any waffles here?’ Which never got laughs. I always thought it was funny,” he said. “Waffle with the chocolate chips on top. A side of fried eggs, bacon, toast.”

Nick said, “Waffle, yep. Black coffee.”

Joe chimed in, “Oh, I forgot that!” 

Nick continued. “Scrambled eggs, bacon.”

Kevin said, “Waffle, coffee, bacon, eggs—and grits.” 

Joe added, “Gotta go with the grits.”

So yes, the brothers genuinely enjoy the restaurant, but there’s a nice metaphor for the value of family in there, too. Waffle House is famous for only closing in the most dire circumstances—so reliably that FEMA unofficially uses them as a metric to measure recovery from a weather emergency. The lyrics discuss the difficulty of spending time in a family of stubborn, determined people and how they “still had love” even if some nights they “want to kill each other.” 

It reflects the perspective on their early years presented in the 2019 documentary Chasing Happiness and the emotional reasons for their 2013 breakup, which frayed their relationship as collaborators and as family members. In a basic sense, they weren’t getting along anymore and felt like they had different goals and musical ambitions. Before they could reunite to make music, they had to figure out how to work together in a new way.

Kevin said he was surprised by the response he got to the family’s honesty about the breakup. “I remember being in a grocery store with my wife, Dani, and the girls and this mother and two teenagers came up to us and said, ‘We watched your documentary. We sat down and we talked for the first time as a family, like, no phones. And we actually talked about what was going on with each other,’” he said. “They had an in-depth conversation, and she thanked me for it. And I was like, ‘Oh, we were just being truthful about our thing.’”

Despite touching on some heavy subjects, “Waffle House” is still an upbeat pop song. That tender balance—between the emotional seriousness of growing up and the downright fun of nostalgia—goes a long way to explain why the Jonas Brothers revival has, by some measures, brought the band success that outstripped their original run. In order to get back together again, they had to decide they really wanted it, and getting there was difficult. They’re planning to release a joint memoir, Blood, that will delve deeper into this side of the story, and each night of their Broadway run last week, they asked three actor friends to introduce the show with a reading from the book.