Jonas Brothers’ “First Time”: Hear The Soaring Midtempo

Sam Lansky | June 12, 2013 10:11 am

Jonas Brothers kept it peppy and tongue-in-cheek on their lead single “Pom Poms” — their first since parting ways to pursue solo efforts several years ago — but their just-leaked sophomore single, “First Time,” is as swoony and sincere as anything in their back catalogue: Fizzy production over a propulsive midtempo beat yields to a big, gorgeous Kings of LeonColdplay-style lighters-up chorus.

“C’mon, let it set you free / Right here, right now where you’re supposed to be,” they sing, the melody soaring in just the right aching way. 

“First Time” feels like a summer beach-party winding-down anthem, a sound that places them in a more mature adult-contemporary space without abandoning the sound of their roots. For a reason I can’t entirely pinpoint, something about it even reminds me a little bit of the mid-noughties pop-rock acts like Mae or Death Cab for Cutie at their poppiest: It’s wistful and luminous and probably my favorite thing I’ve ever heard from them, so good job, brothers Jonas.

Listen below.

The Jonas Brothers — “First Time”