Nick Jonas Says 'Things Were Not Good' When the Jonas Brothers Split in 2013
The Jonas Brothers are back — and apparently, after some needed time apart.
Following the release of “Sucker,” their first new track in nearly six years, at midnight on Friday, the band — consisting of brothers Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas — sat down with Z100’s Elvis Duran for a new interview in which they detailed the circumstances surrounding their 2013 split.
“When it ended it was not good,” Nick, 26, said. “It was a couple years of rebuilding our family, and in our mind it seemed impossible for us to do this ever again.”
Nick said that a turning point came for the brothers when they started to film a documentary about their life, which will be released at a later date, a year ago.
“We spent a lot of time filming again, and then I think we realized that there was a magic there we missed,” he said. “I sort of began the conversation about doing this again and after a few more conversations they came around…Thankfully, some good healing happened during filming this documentary. Now looking up almost a year later, we’re in the best place as family, which is the most important thing. From there, this music and new chapter have just been incredible.”
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Joe, 29, shared a similar sentiment and said they first had to talk “through a lot of things” to successfully become a group again.
“We had to work through and understand what we were going through when we were that young,” he said. “It was interesting because for so many years we just put it under the rug. We said, ‘We’re done, let’s just try to rebuild our friendship and our relationship as brothers — it just happened in its own time.'”
Kevin, 31, added that filming the documentary together was like being “forced into therapy.”
“[It] was great because we had to have real conversations and not hold back,” he said. “So for us, it worked out in a good way.”
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A lot has changed for the brothers since their first turn as teen sensations in the 2000s, including the additions of their significant others Danielle Jonas, Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner, who they asked to be in the epic music video for “Sucker.”
“I think they’re starting to realize who the Jonas Brothers are now,” Kevin, who married wife Danielle in 2009, said. “I’ve always been focused on my family, while for the last five years Nick and Joe have been doing their thing, but now to come back and to be doing this as a family again, and honestly bringing them along with us, it’s going to be such a different day.”
“Also being there to support each other in our individual lives, and then also what we care about, and not think of it as a deterrent from the group but part of it,” he continued. “It kind of shows in the video, we’re bringing our family together.”
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While Nick, who married Chopra in December, embarked on a solo career and Joe sang lead vocals with his band DNCE following the band’s split, Kevin remained largely out of the spotlight as he welcomed his two daughters — Alena, 5, and Valentina, 2.
“It’s kind of like coming out of retirement a little bit,” Kevin said. “It took time to get back into music again, doing the thing that was so much a part of our life, but now it feels so incredible to work together again. I never thought it was going to happen because when people say, ‘Things were bad’ — it was. It’s so cool to be supporting each other as individuals and to be back here now.”
Addressing how it felt to play together as a band again, Nick said, “it came back naturally.”
“There’s things that are a challenge, like remembering certain lyrics, and other things, but what Joe spoke about too, the magic, I can’t stress that enough too,” he said. “The benchmarks I’ve had in my career never added up to what I had with my brothers.”
According to the brothers, “Sucker” is just the beginning of what they have in store musically.
“We’ve got a lot of songs that are recorded,” Joe said. “When we figured out what the sound was going to be like — balancing Nick’s sound, DNCE’s sound, and Kevin bringing so much heart into it — has been really incredible. It was just really important to blend the three. We have 30-40 songs that we are excited to release, so I think in the next few months you’re going to hear more.”
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Joe said in the mix with the rest of their music are songs with older influences like the Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder and Fleetwood Mac.
“We’re trying to mix it up and fuse all of our different sounds together,” he said.
To celebrate the release of “Sucker,” which Nick said he thought felt the “perfect step out” for the band, the brothers had drinks Thursday with country singer Thomas Rhett — Nick’s pal from their CMT Crossroads special — who is in New York City to film Saturday Night Live.
“He texted me and was like, ‘What are you guys up to, let’s hang!'” Nick said. “So we met up, had drinks and celebrated. We also did an Instagram story, but the funny thing is — and he’s going to kill me for saying this — but he didn’t have Instagram on his phone, he has to re-download it.”
Last week, a source confirmed to PEOPLE that the band would be reuniting to release new music, revealing Nick, Joe and Kevin had a breakfast meeting at the Polo Lounge at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles in early February.
Rumors about a reunion first started popping up in January 2018, after the Jonas Brothers’ dedicated Instagram account was reactivated following almost five years of silence. Over a year later, though, the account had yet to post any new images or clips — but that all changed Thursday when they officially announced their return.