Short and sweet only work when the latter is intact. Jonas Brothers forget that important function on latest track Wings. Not a reference to the Paul McCartney-led group, nor as interesting as the worst tracks that powerful 1970s band offered up. Soft rock aimlessness aboard the yacht rock subgenre mark Jonas Brothers’ return to the musical fold as one that could have been avoided. Better yet, one that could have been interesting. Dragged off of their inspiringly titled The Album, the cacophony of noise is just that. Out-of-place repetition, electronically manipulated bits and pieces and twee riffs that flounder around as Jonas Brothers hope to “fly away”. Let’s hope they do.
Barely long enough to leave much of an impact or interest, Wings is over before it even starts. It feels, at best, to be an out-of-place extra track, a bridge between rather than an independent release. Bold move of the Jonas Brothers to release what is, essentially, an interlude, to promote their latest album. What it does for newcomers to Jonas Brothers and their style is absolutely nothing. Wings appeals to those already cemented fans and, intentionally or accidentally, casts those potential new fans aside. Jonas Brothers and their style is not the hardest to grasp, but Wings expects listeners not too familiar with their branch or potential uniqueness to grasp it within a minute.
If a single is to promote The Album, and by extension, the band, then Jonas Brothers’ main misfire is selecting Wings as an album teaser. Loved-up yacht rock that tries and fails to implement its broader, underlying synth touches are of little interest to a bass funk that dominates the empty lyrics. Engaging with this need to fly away and relying on someone else to do it is the usual run-of-the-mill expectation for a pop band appealing to that large demographic so dominated by the boy band spirit. Safe and fluffed up to cater to Jonas Brothers’ sleek image, but the real hero and man who pulls through with talent behind him are Jon Bellion on keyboards. They are the standout of this moment, because it is just a moment in what is sure to be an album dripping with similar themes and equally dull lyricisms.
Bottom-shelf lyrics play out on a track that has a prelude of adverts half the length of the music video. Thanks, YouTube. Stellar updates there. At least it delays the time for Wings and those empty synth notes to open up. There is nothing wrong with upbeat interludes, but to release Wings as a single and to inflict some Owl City-level optimism and specifics, the fun-loving life of friends and the continued sexualisation of Jonas Brothers is a piece that becomes collectively and completely indifferent. Wings says more about how Jonas Brothers perceive themselves than it does about how the non-fan, the people they should surely extend a welcoming arm to, look at them. Wings does little, if anything, as either a pop track or radio-ready hit. It is too short, but not short enough to be gracefully short. Jonas Brothers should be a band on the run after the state of this shallow track.
