At the Ypulse Mashup last week, one of our attendees from Boston University asked me who I thought would be a smash hit if they played on campus -- I was expecting a band like Radiohead and was really surprised when he mentioned Miley Cyrus. Evidently, just as college students will put Sesame Street sheets on their dorm room beds as a way to embrace the nostalgia of their youth, Disney's tween superstars are becoming cool to like. But do they really like the music or is it liking them in a sort of kitschy way? I'm wondering about this as the Jonas Bros. get set to perform at the VMAs. It was one thing when Miley appeared at Nick's Kids' Choice Awards, but MTV is geared towards teens not tweens. Does this mean they've crossed over or are older teens enjoying the tween idol factor as a way of reminiscing?
Posted by anastasia
Campus Marketing | Music | Tweens
Comments
Few things... Jonas Brothers had a HUGE East Coast following a full year before the signed with Disney. In fact, their MTV TRL appearance embarrassed the other guest when she went to look at the crowd and it was 100's of girls with Jonas signs and not one JoJo supporter. Never underestimate the years they spent on the road (2 to be exact) before the had their chance to shine. And when that time came they did more than shine.
As far as MTV... you've seen their ratings. They'll do anything to bump up their numbers including playing music of acts they'd rather not. You could make the same argument with the Rolling Stone cover. We're all in it to make money.
This phenomenon of older 'girls' (not guys) hanging on to teen stars has been going on four about five years now. If anything I would attribute it to the kids that grew up on Radio Disney and other tween/teen media such as T2 and when they hit High School were not comfortable with the music they were playing on CHR Radio. I get tons of emails from kids like this all the time that are now in their 20's. A lot of these people were ones that got hooked on Backstreeet, Aaron Carter and Dream Street. Out of all the shows I attend there are always people in the crowd over their 20's.
I still have a bunch of people that go back to day one with me when we launched in 2002.
Posted by: Tommy2 | July 23, 2008 11:46 AM
Miley Cyrus hasn't been famous long enough to evoke nostalgia.
If people like her songs, then they just like her songs.
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | July 23, 2008 1:53 PM
You would be surprised by how popular Disney Channel is among teen girls. Like 15-17, not 12-14.
Posted by: André | July 25, 2008 3:32 PM