Hi, everyone. This is the first send of the newsletter, which I’m happy about for many reasons. One reason is that I told myself I couldn’t buy Hello Kitty Island Adventure for my Nintendo Switch until I sent my first dispatch. Guess what I’m doing tonight? 

Today’s newsletter is a recap of JonasCon, a free fan convention and concert celebrating the Jonas Brothers’ 20th anniversary as a band. 

I left JonasCon with a lot to chew on. I’m writing this at 1:30 a.m. after spending 8 hours surrounded by everything Jonas, which was on the shorter end of time spent at the event compared to other attendees. The top level analysis is that: 

• We have a tendency — a desire, even — to catastrophize messy events.

• Fandom can be blinding but binding. It is also one of the greatest ways to find community.

• Nostalgia, as it has been for years now, is king. It is the premier form of escapism.

• This is an event only child stars could pull off.

Fandom can be so life-affirming for fans and critical for the longevity of artists. The Jonas Brothers are such an integral part of Zillennial (the younger Millennial-elder Gen Z cusp) childhood. I got to speak with some of these fans, so stay tuned for a more reported story on the fandom side coming Thursday. Subscribe to the Yapper tier so you don’t miss it. 

Greetings from JonasCon

The word I would use to describe JonasCon is chaotic. But what mall concert wasn’t back in the day?

There is perhaps no better encapsulation of 2000s fangirl culture than waiting hours in the mall to watch an up-and-coming teen pop star perform. The Jonas Brothers — Disney Channel legends and early-aughts teen royalty — brought this long-forgotten ritual back on Sunday. 

It was fitting that the Jonas Brothers kicked off their 20th anniversary with a free, day-long celebration at the American Dream mall in their home state of New Jersey. The mall is right across from MetLife Stadium, where the biggest artists get to perform if they’re lucky and where the Jonas Brothers will be kicking off their anniversary tour in August. Talk about full circle. 

JonasCon was hit with bad press ahead of the event, with The Sun reporting that it was an “unorganized mess” behind-the-scenes. Upon receiving emails with more information about the event, I suspected the stories may be correct. 

Going into JonasCon, all I knew was that the Jonas Brothers were slated to perform five separate times. One of the venues was the Dreamworks Water Park where most attendees watched while wading in the wave pool. Four of the performances were reservation-based, and many fans did not secure access (myself included). There were some grumblings online before the event because of this.

For those who couldn’t get into those performances, there was Jonas golf, Jonas laser tag, Jonas trivia, Camp Rock and Camp Star karaoke, and a Jonas-themed escape room (although it seemed like only a few people got to do this one). It seemed fun on paper, but it all sounded ridiculous and impractical, too. 

Basically, I expected a disaster, but the Jonas Brothers pretty much pulled it off. They performed five times, did a meet-and-greet, and did a press appearance with a group of us journalists. Every artist has to endure long days, but this especially felt like a testament (for better or for worse) to their lifelong training as performers. They have grinded since they were literal children, a time when they were working for Disney which kept its stars notoriously booked and busy. (See: Miley Cyrus’s work schedule from when she was 12 or 13.)

The event ended with a final show and keynote for everyone, which clocked in at 2 hours. It was fun! They sounded great, which was impressive considering they had been singing on-and-off for at least 12 hours. They also announced a new album called “Greetings from Your Hometown,” a live album, a Christmas movie on Disney+, and the upcoming 20th anniversary tour — so if you wanted more Jonas, it’s coming.

At the end of the day, JonasCon delivered a free and relatively intimate Jonas Brothers concert. For me, and several other fans I spoke to, that made up for a lot of the shortcomings of the rest of the event. 

I know this was not everyone’s experience. The VIPs in particular seemed mixed. On TikTok, I saw a number of VIP attendees, who paid on average $200, post complaints that the upgrade wasn’t worth it. On the bus ride home, I overheard one attendee who went in with 7 friends on a $1,600 VIP suite above the wave pool. He said the view was too far and the group ended up joining the rest of the free entrants who were closer to the stage. I asked him if he thought the price was worth it. He said he felt his issue was primarily with the venue and he had a mostly positive experience with the performances.

I saw some TanaCon comparisons online from some people who went to JonasCon and others who only observed through social media. Everyone is entitled to their own experiences, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a fair comparison. For those who are unfamiliar, TanaCon was an ill-fated VidCon alternative put on by influencer Tana Mongeau in 2018 resulting in dehydrated, underfed, and sunburned fans, many of whom did not get into the venue.

Was JonasCon long and exhausting? Yes. But we have come to expect unconventional live fan events to be scammy and comically bad — à la The Willy Wonka Experience or The Detroit Bridgerton Ball. This event was not that disorganized. 

I am also guilty of making these assumptions, as I had initially pitched this story around as a likely flop. But not every event is Fyre Fest-bad. In fact, most fan conventions turn out okay.

Most of the people I spoke to felt like the event surpassed their expectations (because they had none). Even those who couldn’t get into the reserved performances were having a good time. I think it’s because it was in a mall. 

A lot of people, especially spectators online, probably forgot about or never experienced the chaos of a mall concert, which is why they probably assumed the event was bad for everyone. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but JonasCon revived a lot of inner mall rats yesterday. There’s always something to look at or somewhere to loiter, even if it’s not related to the show you’re seeing.

I was thinking about what it meant to hold a mall concert at a time when malls are dying and the Jonas Brothers are now playing stadiums. On a surface level, it’s an homage to their roots performing in shopping centers and trying to make it big. 

But it’s also apt to have a mall concert for your fans who grew up during the last recession and are coming into adulthood with the threat of another one looming. Mall concerts were a great way to experience live entertainment for low or no cost. The accessibility of JonasCon is significant because I’m sure many of the fans in the room would not be able to spring for tour tickets, which across the industry are becoming increasingly expensive.

At MetLife, nosebleeds are typically around $85 at face value, but any concertgoer will tell you that ticket platforms often have high fees or dynamic pricing that raises the cost of a ticket. Even if Gen Zers are high spenders on concert tickets, the rising cost of living — housing, groceries, student loans, utilities — could push young people to cool it. As one of these debt-ridden Zoomers who typically shells out for music, I’m trying to curb this habit because I know it’s unsustainable.

The amount of effort that went into this event, which most people attended for free, was palpable and it made fans feel like the Jonas Brothers cared. This is honestly all you could ask for in an event like this, in my opinion. It’s a low bar to pass and they did. Plus, they said they were planning on doing more JonasCons in different countries, so maybe they’ll redeem themselves in the eyes of disappointed spectators.

8Tracks

Every Monday letter gets a playlist. Let’s kick it off with some songs that set the vibe for Yap Year.

In this week’s playlist:

• Cyber Stockholm Syndrome - Rina Sawayama

• Anthems - Charli XCX

• Lost in My Bedroom - Sky Ferreira

• A World Alone - Lorde

• Year 3000 - Jonas Brothers

• Another World - One Direction

• Tongue Tied - Grouplove

• Sincerity is Scary - The 1975

Yap Sesh

Other things I want to share with you <3

• If you saw bananas, Saratoga water, or the phrase “We gotta go ahead and get in at least 10,000” on the TL this weekend and didn’t know where they came from, behold the morning routine to end all morning routines.

• The concept of explaining what a platinum face card is to Dichen Lachman aka Ms. Casey on Severance… Then getting tips on how to serve platinum face… I’m extremely jealous of this interview from YouTuber Mike’s Mic.

• Today, I chatted with one of the co-founders of Breeze, a dating app that has no chat feature and prompts you to schedule a date with a match. They just launched in New York in January and apparently have 6,500 active monthly users so far. The goal is to get people out and meeting IRL instead of wasting time on an app’s chat function. I think the concept is interesting and touches on many of the issues people have with the current dating app landscape, which I’ve reported on in the past. Although, I think it’ll be a task to convince some people to take a leap of faith to remove the buffer of a chat.