Grammys embracing Nick Jonas' solo project

Without a hit or even an album, Nick Jonas is getting a prime-time, Grammy-endorsed unveiling for his new band, Nick Jonas and the Administration. Though it won't be nominated for an award at the 2010 edition of the gala, the solo outing from Nick has been added to the Recording Academy's Dec. 2  CBS special, "The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! -- Countdown to Music's Biggest Night," in which the 2010 Grammy noms will be revealed.

The teenager will join previously announced performers the Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Sugarland at the taping. The event will be held at downtown's Club Nokia, and will air live (tape-delayed for SoCal viewers) at 9 p.m. EST. Rapper LL Cool J will host the televised press-conference-turned-concert for the second year running.

Nick may be going it alone, but Kevin and Joe won't be completely left out of the taping. The latter two will introduce Nick Jonas and the Administration.

Live review: The Jonas Brothers at Staples Center

The boy band delivers to the shrieking masses in a flashy and entertaining show at Staples Center. Popularity problems? Not here.

The Jonas Brothers -- and everyone they employ -- can rest easy: Recent rumors regarding the death of Jonasmania have been greatly exaggerated.

On Friday night at Staples Center, in the first of three weekend shows there, the Jonases demonstrated that when it comes to America's boy bands, nobody inspires more devotion, triggers more flashbulbs or elicits more ear-destroying shrieks. (Trust me -- I'm still recovering.)

It's been a year of chattering-class speculation for Kevin, Joe and Nick, whose once-mighty commercial prowess has taken some dents of late. First, their hugely hyped 3-D concert film opened in February to less-than-spectacular numbers. Then, in June, their fourth studio album, "Lines, Vines and Trying Times," notched first-week sales that were about half of those for 2008's "A Little Bit Longer."

Jonas Brothers: Is the magic still there? And chart news on Jay-Z, Pete Yorn and more

Last summer, the Jonas Brothers sold more than half a million copies when they landed atop the U.S. pop charts with “A Little Bit Longer.” What a difference a year makes. The Disney powerhouse still lands at No. 1 with its latest, “Lines, Vines and Trying Times,” but a little of the magic appears to be gone.

First week sales for the newest topped off at 247,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That gives the Jonas kids a healthy lead over the Black Eyed Peas' “The E.N.D.” (Interscope), which falls to No. 2 in its second week of release, but may cast some doubt as to just how much is left in the Jonas Brothers' tank.

Disney has had the boys working, as the Jonas Brothers have released four studio albums in less than three years. The brand has also spawned a 3-D concert film, a Disney Channel film in “Camp Rock” and a recent Disney Channel series, “Jonas.”

The marketing blitz has been designed to keep the Jonas Brothers in the lucrative tween-pop world, all while expanding their fan base to a more grown-up market. The Jonas Brothers partnered with Stevie Wonder at last year’s Grammys, and are gradually bringing on more adult themes in their music, but lead-off single “Paranoid” hasn’t been burning up the charts yet.

Fellow Disney peer Miley Cyrus, for instance, is still in the top 25 of iTunes’ bestselling singles with "The Climb,” which sees her making overtures to the country world, but “Paranoid” is languishing farther down – at No. 56 today. On Billboard's Hot 100, the cut hit No. 60 last week, which is down from its peak of No. 37, a high-water mark last month based on first week digital download sales. So far, it's sold 192,000 digital downloads.

Other notes on this week’s chart, including news on the Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z and Pete Yorn below:

Album review: Jonas Brothers' 'Lines, Vines and Trying Times'

Plenty of young pop stars have grown darker on records after a fast career ascent. Though "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" has a touch of late-teen angst about it lyrically, the Jonas Brothers' third album of sprightly and eclectic pop is unexpectedly their most easygoing and enjoyable yet. 

The refreshing thing about "Lines" is the sense that the brothers have zero hang-ups about finding authenticity through traditional rock gestures. The Jonas' have the advantage of a young fan base for whom Neil Diamond was never hokey and for whom soul has no political ramifications. So it feels natural when the trio skips from falsetto-stretching funk on "World War III" to rhinestone-cowboy country on "What Did I Do to Your Heart." It's a clean synopsis of the "I listen to everything" philosophy of today's youth, and it's in service of some worthy songwriting. 

Exclusive video: Jonas Brothers talk new tour, album, 'South Park'

Pop & Hiss sat down with the Jonas Brothers at the group's Los Angeles studio this week, and one thing's for certain: The Mouse won't let these boys rest for a minute. The Disney act, which recently released a 3-D concert film, will be back on tour this summer with a pair of new albums to draw material from, all to the delight of their devoted cadre of screaming young girls.

This summer, the Jonas Brothers will release a new full-length, as well as a soundtrack to their upcoming Disney Channel series. The latter will contain eight or nine original songs, and the new tour will see the Jonas Brothers performing in-the-round on an extremely mobile 144-foot stage, one that Kevin says will keep every audience member within 60-feet of at least one Jonas Brother.

Also, whereas last year's tour setup implemented shoots of fire, the boys say this year will emphasize the cooling powers of H20. Watch the video above to see some early renderings of the stage.

Pop & Hiss grilled the act on the TV series and the new album. "We've taken definitely a step in a new direction, added a lot of horns -- definitely getting a lot more funky" Kevin said of the upcoming set, due in June. He also hints that a cover of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" might be in the act's future.

The Jonas Brothers didn't seem bothered by what many considered were the poor box-office results of the 3-D film, speaking instead about what they learned from watching themselves on screen. But what did they think of the recent episode of "South Park," which had the boys fending off a fire-breathing Mickey Mouse?

"To be on an episode of ‘South Park’ is kind of an honor," said Nick.

--Todd Martens & Margaret Wappler

The Jonas Brothers: It's full scream ahead

Reporting from New York -- How big are the Jonas Brothers? One day here last week, not knowing the cause, some floors of Rockefeller Center were evacuated when the floor shaking and screams of the lads' fans during a TV shoot sent trepidations through the tenants.

It's hard to capture just how raucous the teenage choir for the Jonas Brothers is. But here, earlier in the day, they are on the set of CBS' "The Early Show." Cameras have been set up outdoors on Fifth Avenue to allow a few hundred teenage girls to stand close when Nick, 16, Joe, 19, and Kevin, 21, promote their film that opened this weekend: "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."

The girls have been here for hours, their devotion such that many would have camped overnight had it not been for stinging winter winds whipping the city. Those who got here first are staked out along a long, waist-high barricade rail, and they're not giving an inch of real estate to their fellow females, now 10 and 20 rows deep and jostling for position. Outside of extra manpower for security, the television crew and a very few at-a-distance dads, there's not a male in sight.

But none of that matters now. The Jonas Brothers are here. You don't know because you see them. You know from all the pandemonium breaking loose, measured in decibels. Girls' screams. Followed by girls' heads bouncing, arms reaching, cellphone cameras flashing, and signs, flowers and presents thrust lovingly toward the boys.

During a frantic two-day ride-along with the teen pop phenom on the publicity tour for their film, it's like this at every stop.

Crisscrossing town in a three-black-SUV caravan from their base at the Trump International Hotel, the boys would appear on "Regis and Kelly," "The Early Show," "Good Morning America," Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, stop by an unveiling of their wax likenesses at Madame Tussauds, tape an MTV special, then be at the "Saturday Night Live" stages by late afternoon each day to rehearse the skits and songs they would perform there that weekend. As usual, they were extremely well behaved and extremely well dressed.

If that seems a lot, consider they are just coming off a sold-out concert tour on which their 3-D movie was made, are filming a Disney Channel series to premiere in May and were invited guests in the Obama White House on inauguration night -- after having been the Bushes' guests there just before leave-taking. They were jamming on stage with Stevie Wonder at the Grammys, where they were a best new artist nominee. They had just sold out an impromptu concert at Ryman Auditorium on their first visit to Nashville and were named "breakthrough artist" for the American Music Awards, where they also performed. They are the only artist to ever have three albums in the top 10 of SoundScan at the same time and the first artist to have six consecutive iTunes No. 1 tracks. All this while watching their current album, "A Little Bit Longer," reach 1.5 million.

Not bad for guys who hardly more than two years ago had a record that wouldn't sell and "were just four brothers [they have an 8-year-old brother, Frankie] in one bedroom," Kevin says to each talk show host.

The 200 teen girls chosen to be in the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center for the MTV taping know a lot about the Jonas Brothers. They know the wild reception the boys received at "The Early Show" that morning since they've been trading texts with the girls there. They know the time the Jonases left their hotel because the pod of girls camped there were texting as well. Then there are "the runners," the girls sprinting around Manhattan from one Jonas sighting to the next, keying into their phones as they go.

For the MTV opening scene, the band is hidden behind curtains as if anyone needed to build more angst and anticipation into these girls. When the boys are unveiled one by one, the resulting scream is so deafening, you can hardly hear one of them for all of them, and they are all saying the same thing, something like this: "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I can't believe it's them. They're so beautiful." Then, depending on which of the brothers is closest, "I love you, Kevin." "I love you, Joe." "I love you, Nick. . . ."

But all this adulation has caused a very real problem. For one thing, the production crew's members can't do their work because they can't hear one another even in their headsets. And then comes the building evacuation.

The Jonas Brothers' mom, Denise, 41, a former singer and sign language teacher, watches the scene from a monitor in the control room. She laughs each time she sees one of the boys having fun on camera, savoring it like a parent who has just seen her child score a soccer goal, except that for her it has been like watching all three of her sons score goals, every day for nearly two years now.

The boys stay remarkably composed through it all.Appreciative. Enjoying it. Beyond their music, another thing that has so endeared them to their fans -- and their fans' parents -- is that they genuinely seem to be the nicest young men you could imagine.

"I am always impressed at how well they hold themselves," Denise says. "I'm a crazy Italian, hands flying. I can't help it. I go crazy at their concerts. They are more like their dad that way."

On this tour careening around town, along with their father, Kevin Sr., 44, a former Christian minister and songwriter and musician who co-manages his sons, there's co-manager Phil McIntyre, the director of their production company, their stylist and her assistant, their photographer, three publicists, a teacher and at least five security men.

When offstage, Denise might be with the boys, whispering in their ears or adjusting Nick's collar. Kevin Sr. tends to stand back a bit, watching over it all as he quietly takes calls on his cellphone.

Still, "when they walked out at MTV, I choked up when the crowd exploded," said Kevin Sr. "That's normal for the boys, but it's never normal to Dad and Mom. They are really good kids. They are healthy. They are normal. Everywhere I go, before I leave, someone grabs me and says, 'I see it all, and they are so polite, so courteous, so thankful.' I hope we had something to do with that. But I'm really glad because it is still important to me that they are really good boys."