The Jonas Brothers’ new track “Listen When Sad” is a nostalgic joy to listen to.
It’s always fun to hear a good pop-rock song, especially by an act that brings as much Millennial/Gen Z nostalgia as the Jonas Brothers.
“Listen When Sad” is about remembering a teenage relationship that felt like it would last forever, where the girlfriend burned a CD that read, “listen when sad, and then call me.”
There’s something self-referential about the song’s focus on teenage nostalgia. Much of the Jonas Brothers’ core fanbase is made up of Millennials and older Gen Z, many of whom were teens or pre-teens during their Disney Channel era. When Camp Rock premiered in 2008, the brothers ranged in age from fifteen to twenty, with Joe Jonas’s character likely being around sixteen. That said, appropiately, “Listen When Sad” centers on a sixteen-year-old’s love story that ended shortly after they promised each other “forever.”
The lyrics are emotional but a little cliché, though this song clearly isn’t trying to avoid clichés. It also doesn’t feel like nostalgia bait. It simply feels nostalgic, which honestly hits differently during what has been a pretty stressful time. As a whole, the song sounds like something that could’ve played over the credits of a Disney Channel Original Movie that I would’ve watched every single time it came on television in 2009. Honestly, I couldn’t help but smile while listening.
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