Kevin Jonas Talks Debut Single, Wild Fan Signs & the Secret Special-Guests Group Chat

We have Kevin Jonas. Big, big day for you today. Congratulations on dropping your debut single. Wow, that's a weird energy today. I don't really know how to feel. It's great. I love it. I'm very excited. So it dropped at midnight. What was your first response to that? I looked at it on, you know, streaming services. I was just like, okay, wow, this thing lives now. It's here. It's someone else's now. Oh, okay. So we got to talk about it. I know that you said that it's something very meaningful to you, something special. Tell me the story behind it. Well, I wrote a really close friend after we filmed this Christmas movie about, you know, do you feel like you have any songs that may, you know, fit for something for myself? And I didn't really get a response from him, which is fine. And then he wrote me in June. I wrote him in February. And he responded to me with this song. And that's when I heard the song for the first time. I listened and was like, whoa. Listened to it again and was like, I feel like I know this song. I feel like I've lived this song. It does feel very familiar when you're hearing it. It's weird. It's kind of the sense I got when I heard it without my voice on it. And then I was like, I think this is it. So flew to L.A. on a couple days off I had between stuff and cut it. And I held on to it. And then I performed it at Fenway Park and was a surprise to the audience and everyone that was watching. Of course, it was a big moment. It was exciting. And what took you so long? I mean, your brothers have been doing solo stuff for so long. What took you so long? It was the right song. It was also the right time. I've recorded a lot of songs over the last 20 years. Written songs, recorded songs, put my voice on a bunch of things that just never felt right. A couple things I really liked, but just never anything that felt like this is who I am. And even sonically, the sound of the music. And Jason and team really got this one right. Now, who was the first person in your inner circle to hear this song? Oh, my first person was Danielle. I was in the car. I was like, babe, I'm going to cut this song. And she heard it. She was very excited. But she also has heard me say that a lot over the course of the last couple years. So I don't think she like – she was like, cool, go ahead, go cut it. But I don't think she thought it was going to come out. There have been other things. What are your thoughts on releasing something solo? Because do you feel nervous? You were excited? I was nervous to perform it. Releasing it solo, I think the really cool part about where I'm at and I think where we are in general as the Jonas Brothers is there's like no expectation. Right. You know, just anything is good, anything is positive, and just more is more. And I think our whole thing with our fans right now is just like as much as we can give back to them as much as they give to us every single night, coming to these shows, continuing to stream our songs, continuing to listen to our music, supporting us with the movie. Like, let's just keep feeding the fans, as they say. Now, does this mean that we're going to get an album out of you because you said you've been writing other songs? Yeah, I'm not really sure. I definitely have more ready, songs I've cut, things I really love. I think sometimes it takes a moment to unlock things. I feel like Changing did that for me, and it changed me. And the response you got, too, when you performed it. Oh, yeah. It was really special. You know, for me, I don't really remember the moment, I'm going to be honest with you. Kind of blacked out a little bit. You've got to go back and watch all the videos. I saw those videos, which was great. Yeah. But I was really just really happy with the response. People were excited that I was trying to do something, and I think that I felt their support of people regardless, which was really cool. We're excited for you. Thank you so much. This is like remarkable. I'm happy, finally. I've been waiting all this time for you to go solo. Thank you so much. Now, you guys have been having a moment on your Greetings from Your Hometown tour. You guys just performed very locally to us right here, right here in New York. You're going to be coming back December 21st, UBS and Barclays Center the 22nd. You guys have been bringing out a lot of surprise guests, too. We do have special guests coming out all the time. How are you locking these people in? Is this just kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing? The beginning was planned pretty heavily, obviously. The first show, we kind of reached out to everybody, not even that far from the night one. But we asked everyone to come. We all agreed, you know, having Jesse come out. And now, of course, now Jesse's back on tour with us. Yep. Because we added all these shows. The tour was supposed to end on the 14th of November, but we were going until the 22nd. The fans need more. Yeah, we're just keeping it moving. But now Jesse's with us, which is really crazy because, you know, he gave us our shot to open for him for the first tour ever, which is wild. I love it. Full circle moment right there. Yeah, full circle. And so it's been really wonderful. But, yeah, it's a combination of us doing Reach Out, and then there's been a lot of friends and family and, you know, and guests that have just actually, you know, approached us and been like, hey, we're in town this day. Are you able to make this work? And we love it. It's great. I mean, you had Mario pop out. That was awesome. That was really cool. Who set that one up? That's all of our karaoke songs. Yeah. It's Naked Joe's number one karaoke song. Who set that one up? I think it's a little bit of friends, a little bit of management, a little bit of everybody. Okay. We have a group chat. That's the special guest group chat on the phones. It's pretty fire. Oh, what's the title of it? It's a special guest. Oh, it is? Yeah. Okay. It's a thing. So, like, every single day there's a new addition. We literally had to bring someone on full time on the tour to help manage it. And 5 Seconds of Summer. 5 Seconds of Summer, great, not-so-special guests, as we said. Okay. We love those guys. They're incredible. We had them as a special guest in L.A. And we knew they were in New York doing promo because their album just came out, which is incredible. And we reached out and we're like, hey, we have these two shows. Would you guys just want to, like, be announced, but, like, come out and do, like, a mini set? So, sometimes, most of the time, we do a performance with somebody. But we wanted these guys to give. That's what we love about this tour is, like, we're changing it up so much every night. And it is a different show. Like, all of a sudden you get a random 5 Seconds of Summer show in the middle of our show, which is awesome. That is sick. And then I know Snooki showed up to your Jersey performance. We did Pride in the house. Yeah, Nicole wrote me that morning. She's like, hey, I'd like to bring my daughter and her friends. And I was like, you got it. So, we go to the same trainer, same gym. Oh, my God. I love that. Did you watch Jersey Shore when it was? Of course. Are you still watching it with Family Vacation? You know, I've seen it a bunch here and there. Me and Danny catch up once in a while. But, really, you know, it was the moment was happening when me and Danielle got married. So, I flew back from tour in 2009. We had four days before the tour. And every single night, we were just, I don't know what else to say. It was like recovering from something, but knowing we were about to do this big thing and the last minute details. And every night, the whole family at her house, because I was the only one there so far, we would just sit around and watch this and we would laugh our asses off. I used to binge it like crazy, too. Oh, my God. Remember when they dropped eight episodes the first one? Like that first season, they dropped those first eight episodes. And, my, it was amazing. I love that. Now, we got to talk about your fans. Yes. Because they could be a little wild and crazy with the signs that they put up at the shows. There's some pretty incredible signs these days. We pretty much, I'm not going to repeat it, but we had two of the most intense ones last night. Oh, no, no, no. We need to hear about these. No, I'm going to avoid that. Can you allude to what they said? They're getting more and more bold. That is, okay. So, my question to you is, when you and your brothers are backstage, do you guys talk about the signs that you guys saw? Oh, for sure. Because we think it's insane. You know, and I think a part of it is a little bit of shock and awe, like fun, you know, obviously. But for people that don't know, during our tour, we didn't intend to happen and another thing, while this tour is so cool, is just like, Joe started reading a sign one time where someone had a special guest, a special request for a song. After that, because of TikTok and other things, then it became a whole section of our show. There's like four, we play like four songs of whatever they want to hear, we play it. Based off the signs? Based off the signs. So, he reads the signs, plays these games. They become very elaborate. It's a whole thing. I love it. I mean, I feel like I've seen a lot of the signs, obviously, on TikTok. Yeah. And a lot of the raunchy ones. It's funny. Like, we get it. You know, we're all adults. We can all handle it. But it's getting bold out there. And I feel like they're throwing them mostly at Joe now that he's pretty single for the most part. Yeah. You know, he's a single guy. He's living his life and we get it. We've all seen the thirst traps on TikTok. I love it. That you're making of him. He's not making of himself. Oh, he's playing into it. I have no idea what you're talking about. He's playing into it. I love it. I think, you know, it's Joe. He's incredible. Now, we got to talk about New Year's Eve. You guys are going to be ringing in New Year's Eve. Yeah. We're going to be doing it on Samsung TV+. We're going to be down back in Miami at the Hard Rocks. It's going to be awesome. Everyone's got to come out. It's going to be super fun. Honestly, last time we were in Miami, great show. Anything you could tease for us that's going to happen? I'm sure a countdown, obviously. There will be special guests. Because right now, there are. Really? I think so. Anybody you want to tease us with? At least we're talking about it. Or now it has to happen. I mean, anyone you want to tease us with? Who knows? We've got a lot of special guests. Maybe we cap it off in a big way. Is it in the special guest chat? This conversation is in the special guest chat. Because I'm about to have to add it. Because I'm going to have to make sure I didn't just spill beans that weren't true. I love that. Okay. And then, a very Jonas Christmas. Congrats on that. Happy holidays, everyone. Yes. Getting into the holiday season. Congrats on the release of that. Thank you. Yeah, I know. We loved making the film. We were in Toronto for like six, seven, eight weeks. It was the longest Christmas season of my life. I mean, and it didn't even start. How about that? That's very, very, very true. I do love the little cameos that were made. All of the children. Thank you. Yeah, no, all the kids. The Jonas kids. Having the girls a part of the film was incredible. I think, you know, for them to start acting is not what I necessarily want. But maybe it is exactly what they want. So we'll see. Kind of following in your footsteps a little bit. Maybe. I will say your little one seems like she's going to be this outstanding star. That's what people keep saying. I saw a couple of interviews that she's done. And she does not hold back. She's got a little something going on. They both do. I'm so proud of them. They're both so cute. And they were incredible in the film. And just so, so, so pleased that everyone just gets that we're a family first. Yeah. Doing things like this with your family is incredible. And now besides the kids, who was one of your favorite cameos? Oh, Will Ferrell, obviously. If you haven't seen the film, we start with Will Ferrell. I don't even know how this even happened. But Nick was in a film with him and Reese Witherspoon. And he did a cameo in their film. And he called Will and was like, would you be open to this? And he's like, yeah. Can I bring my whole family? And we're like, yeah. And he came in for a whole day. We were actually wrapped on the film. And we all stayed an extra two days just to be there and see him act. Because the things that got on the editing room floor, the cutting room floor, that man is so funny. And he's built for camera. It's just unbelievable. Such an experience, I bet. Totally. So I know you were talking about family. How does the Jonas family celebrate Christmas? Take us inside the house. We celebrate in a big way. I host Christmas. Every year? Yeah, every year, me and Danielle, we host Christmas. Whoever can come, comes. We're all going to be doing it differently this year. Is it Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Christmas Day. We go to her mom and dad's house for Christmas Eve. Bucky cooks. He does a version of the seven fishes. I was going to say, the best. It's great. It's a lot of food. It's fantastic. But then next day, because the girls, we were the first to have the grandkids for everyone. It became our house. We do Christmas morning together, which is lovely. What time do the kids get up to open presents? They've been pretty good, but we have a rhythm. They come into our room, they wake us up. We don't wake up very fast. Of course not. And then we have in the past had them have some food in our room. How cute. Is that like a family tradition of yours? I guess it is a family tradition at this point. We have little trays of food with them in our room on Christmas morning before we walk downstairs. It's just an attempt to sleep longer. But hey, it's a great tradition. Get in bed, let's cuddle. Next thing you know, you guys are falling asleep. They're like, get up, we want to do presents. You're like, five more minutes. Now, as the Jonas brother that's been married the longest, and everything's been perfect. Oh, yeah, perfect. It's been amazing. I mean, listen, it's been perfect. No, she really is incredible. She really is. We've been together this long, and she still is my number one support champion. She's incredible. Do the other brothers come to you for relationship advice? No. Really? We do not do relationship advice. No? Unless it's asked. Okay. Has it ever been asked? We don't give parenting advice. We don't give relationship advice. We don't give anything. Oh, my goodness. All right, all right. And before we go, we've got to do a few fun rapid fire questions. Let's get it. We're going to get these out real quick, okay? Sounds like a plan. Which celebrity slid into your DMs that surprised you the most? I don't really get DMs that often. Really? Yeah, I don't know. Or you just don't check your DMs. Probably. Mario was in there, because we just did it. So I saw him there. Okay. Hey, what's up, Mario? Who's the most famous person saved in your phone right now? Most famous person saved in my phone? Mm-hmm. Will Ferrell. Oh, we've got to give him a call. Who's the messiest Joe bro on tour? Oh, me. Really? 100%. You don't want to throw your other brothers under the- I leave stuff around. Somewhere else. You're the messy one. I would never think that. Yeah. Okay. Thinking about everything else, I guess. Most ridiculous rumor you heard about yourself? Most ridiculous rumor I've heard about myself? I don't really pay attention to that stuff that much. I'm going to be honest with you. Ignore the drama. I'm just kind of out of the mix on it. Yeah, I don't really know. Fair enough. What is one song you never get tired of performing? Changing. My new single. You just started it. Out now. But I never get tired of it. It feels great every single night. I love it. And you have so many more times to perform it, too. That's right. If there's one song that you could retire of the Joe bros, which one would it be? One song to retire of the Joe bros. You know, at the beginning of this tour, I said Year 3000 because it just feels like a song that we've been playing forever. But this tour brought a new life for me. So I take that back. Okay. So we're not going to bury any of them. No. They can live forever. Okay. As a Jersey boy, Wawa or Quick Check? What was that? Wawa? Wawa or Quick Check? Wawa. What's your order? I'm just a black coffee guy, you know? Straight up. I'm just a coffee guy. Okay. Favorite snack? Favorite snack. You know, I've been known to dabble in Twix bars. Okay. Left or right? Yeah, it's got to go left. Okay. Got to go left. I know you keep saying no to Dancing with the Stars. You know, I read this today. Yes. So I guess that's right. I'll correct this rumor. Okay. It's not every season. There was a time where they asked me for a mini season. In a row? Yes. Okay. I just wouldn't. Okay, what would it take to get you to say yes? I don't think I will. Really? Yeah, I don't know. You know what it is? It feels like a very intimate thing. Fair enough. And it's just like not my thing. I was going to say, when I do see some of them dancing. It feels like you have to spend so much time with someone else. And I feel like you start to fall. I've already spent enough time away with my wife. I feel like you start to fall for the other person in a weird way. I don't know if I think about it. Totally. I feel like I see it in their eyes. I think that that is a common misconception with entertainment and acting in musicals and other things. Okay. It's very hyper-connected. Have you ever noticed that in high school musicals and things like that where people are together all the time? It's like, oh, everyone's just always together. And it looks like, oh, they're dating. It's like, they're just friends. Right. That seems to be what happens with stuff like this. So I don't believe anything ever because I went through it all. Unless it comes from their mouth, don't believe it. Correct. And last one. If 2025 Kevin could give 2008 Kevin a piece of advice, what would you tell your baby Jonas? I would say it's all going to be all right, kid. You did good. Don't take everything too serious. Oh, I love that. Well, of course, your debut single changing out now. Thank you so much. You can find all things Kevin over at KevinJonas.com. Thank you. We are so excited to get that song on the air. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.