2019 has been a huge year for the Jonas Brothers, and it hasn’t even reached the halfway point yet: Nick and Joe both got married, and the rock trio ended their hiatus with comeback single “Sucker,” which became their very first song to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart.
All is well on the Jonas front, but it wasn’t always that way — and the brothers speak candidly about the hiatus that nearly led to a permanent schism in a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
When asked about making the choice to take a step back from the Jonas Brothers in 2013, Nick shares that he’s the one who suggested they dissolve their creative partnership for the time being to pursue new projects. He didn’t hold back when he recalled the state of mind he and his brothers found themselves in when they made that difficult decision, and he was blunt about the impact it had on their family ties as well.
“To call it creative differences is almost too simple,” Nick says of the split. “I think a lot of people lost the appetite for what we were putting into the world. We were putting up shows that weren’t selling. We were making music that I don’t think we were all super proud of, and it wasn’t connecting. On top of all that, the root of all these real issues was our relationship was becoming strained.”
Kevin and Joe solemnly nod along in agreement. “I had a very tough conversation with them where I laid it out for them,” Nick continues. “I said, ‘I feel like the Jonas Brothers should be no more, and we should go on individual journeys.’ Didn’t go so well.”
Joe adds that he “absolutely” thought the Jonas Brothers were finished by that point, and says that he was “checked out in my mind — that was it. There was going to be no more brothers, ever.” Nick was sure of that, too.
“I feared that they would never speak to me again,” he reveals. “For real. It took a couple months of tricky conversations and navigating all that for us to be able to reconnect, just as family again.”
Watch the Jonas Brothers’ full CBS Sunday Morning interview below.