Monday, February 16, 2009

The Jonas Brothers and Twilight? (And a few personal updates)

Wow... It has been two weeks exactly. I apologize for the lack of updates. No, I haven't forgotten about this thing. I've actually been moving and resting in bed because I'm sore and sick. I'm actually still sick, but I've decided it's time to stop hiding from the virtual world. It's not like you guys can catch anything I have.

Anyway, on to better things.

Some of the latest Twi-buzz is that the Jonas Brothers want to be on the New Moon soundtrack. A snippet from the MTV article says:

"The movie was obviously a huge success, and if they asked us to be a part of [the sequel], that would be great,” Nick Jonas said when we caught up with him and his brothers Monday, revealing that the trio are fans of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire franchise and would be willing to write a song for the “New Moon” soundtrack. “It would be really cool.”

“I haven’t seen it,” Joe admitted. “But I have heard it’s a great movie.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing it,” Nick added. “We’ve been a little busy, so it’s kinda hard to get the movies, but we’ll see it.”


I would say around one out of every thirty person approves of this match. There are definitely some JBro fans who like Twilight and vice-versa. However, most of us don't agree with this idea. See how I said us? I'm including myself in that group.

However, I have noticed that I disagree for different reasons, and I thought I'd explain.

Their Opinion
Issue One "OMG! They haven't even READ Twilight/New Moon!" Okay, okay, I'll give some credibility to this freak-out session. They did say that they would be willing to write a song for New Moon. That means they should kind of read the books to know what they're talking (singing?) about. However, this isn't always necessary. Artists who wind up on soundtracks aren't usually involved in the process. From what I understand, they sign over the rights for a use of a song and the movie uses it and puts it on a CD. It's not a difficult process. If the person in charge simply wants to take one of their songs and smack it on the DVD, you can't use this argument against them.

Issue Two "They don't SOUND right. I want more indie bands! Like PARAMORE and BLUE OCTOBER and LINKIN PARK!" This is the freak-out that most confuses me. What kind of 'indie' are these people referring to? Though I'm not all knowing in the realm of music, I know from personal experience that there are three basic forms of indie: 1) an independent label -- This is where the term is derived from and it is most correct of the three. My favorite band, AFI, could have been considered 'indie' when they were on Nitro. When they switched to DreamWorks for Sing The Sorrow and then Interscope for Decemberunderground, they were considered to have 'sold out'. (Ridiculous.) 2) sound -- This is one of the most common references and is multi-faceted, being applied to both music and video. Juno and Little Miss Sunshine are two movies that could be considered 'indie' because of their feel, but they were distributed by Fox Searchlight. Fox is definitely not indie. 3) popularity -- Or lack thereof. This doesn't just happen in the punk world. Sometimes artists that are relatively unknown and unheard of -- ones that don't get as much airtime and don't show up on MTV -- can be considered indie.

As far as I know, there aren't many indie bands on the Twilight Soundtrack when we take into consideration any one of these three definitions. For instance:

Blue October -- Are they on an independent label? No. They're on Universal Records, which also owns the rights to ABBA, Lindsay Lohan, and Nelly. Would you consider any of those artists to be 'indie'? (Although they also work on the label 'Brando Records', which is nothing I've never heard of.)Do they sound indie? That one is more subjective. I suppose I could understand if some people thought so, but I don't. They seem very pop-rock to me. How mainstream are they? Well, everybody I know has heard of them. Are they indie? Not by any of these standards.

Paramore -- Are they on an independent label? At first, I might have thought so. The label is called 'Fueled By Ramen'. Digging deeper, however, I learned that Fueled By Ramen is distributed by Atlantic Records, whose 'parent company' (whatever the hell THAT is) is Warner Music Group, which is one of the four major record labels. So, I want to say no. From what I understand, they are basically getting funded by Warner Brothers. Do they sound indie? Hahahah. Um, no. They are listed as emo, alternative pop/rock, power pop, and pop punk, and I think that's just what they are. How mainstream are they? Like with Blue October, everyone I know has heard of them. They're even on MTV! OMG! Are they indie? Probably not.

Link Park -- Are they on an independent label? They are listed as being on the labels 'Warner Bros' and 'Machine Shop'. I went to see if they were in the same boat as Blue October, but Machine Shop is just LP's personal record label that is part of Warner Bros. It appears to be a big. fat. no. Do they sound indie? Snort. Nooooo. They don't. They sound very metal, rock, rap, and hip-hop. How mainstream are they? Whether you love them or hate them, you just know who Linkin Park is. They're on MTV, your radio station, and movies. They're pretty mainstream. Are they indie? Not even close.

Muse -- Are they on an independent label? It looks like their most current label is Warner Bros. Oh, snap. WB is just suckin' up all of the great bands! So no, I don't think they are. They've been signed on to a lot of labels, though, so maybe. Do they sound indie? Well, they definitely sound more indie than any of the other choices. I guess it depends on what you think of when you imagine the sound of indie. How mainstream are they? Until Steph said that they were her OMG favorite band, I had never heard of them. Are they indie? Technically? No. If your definition of indie is based off of lack of popularity or the sound, then perhaps.

My Opinion
Issue One "I just don't like them." Most Disney stars rub me the wrong way. Okay, okay, I have some guilty pleasures. I LOVE Brenda Song and I LOVE Selena Gomez. I guess it's time to behead me now. But I just really don't like the Jonas Brothers. I'm glad that they are such great influences, and I actually don't mind Nick because I think he's rather inspirational with how he handles his diabetes, but I don't want to listen to them. I don't want them on my soundtrack. I just do not want them.

Issue Two "They don't have the right sound." Granted, I don't listen to them. I have heard a few songs because of my addiction to the Disney channel WHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE CABLE, but I don't think their cutesy, poppy songs would be beneficial to New Moon. As another commenter stated, New Moon is very emotional and dark and the JBros are just a little too poppy. However, they might be able to pull off a darker song. I don't know.

Issue Three "If you give a little, you actually give a lot." I believe Jaden Nation actually mentioned that in his latest vlog. If the Jonas Brothers make it on to this soundtrack, who's to say that Vanessa Hudgens won't be Leah when the time comes for the part? Disney kind of puts a stigma on their actors, which isn't fair. I've seen Shia in some pretty serious roles. However, I don't think that most of the Disney stars could pull it off. They overact, and it works for Disney, but it wouldn't for New Moon.

And that's about it. I've got a lot of things to do today, and I should have left by now.

Except that I just want to announce that I'm not a music expert. If any of the above facts are incorrect, please leave a *nice*, *friendly* comment correcting me.

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