“喬納斯熱潮”的背后：走進迪斯尼童星夢工場

記得Wendy念書那日子還是男孩組合大放異彩的年代——Boyzone的風頭還在，Backstreet Boys、Westlife、Hanson和’N Sync更如長江后浪，把一大堆女生迷得暈頭轉向。時移景遷，當“男孩組合”這個概念不再被人提起，有三個年輕人卻從迪斯尼造星機器中脫胎而出，走紅程度隱約有其前輩面影——

geople screamed when band members stepped out of the stage door and walked to their cars. Girls pressed up against the fence; some 1)lobbed roses over the barrier. A scene from some movie? Nope. That’s what happened when these three youthful 2)heartthrobs appeared. The Jonas Brothers， whose album has gone 3)platinum， are the

latest 4)beneficiaries of Disney’s 5)tween-targeted star machine and could be the company’s next big 6)franchise

after High School Musical and Hannah Montana.

Disney Radio and the Disney Channel helped 7)propel the musical careers of the brothers Jonas – Nick， 15， Joe， 18， and Kevin， 20 – for years. The company also threw the full weight of its television group behind their first movie， Camp Rock. The 8)exposure has turned the three into a national media 9)sensation these days.

“This is a moment where the platforms of the television group combine to 10)launch a potentially valuable new franchise，” an 11)executive said.

Television has long propelled the careers of

talented young people. Among all these star

machines， Disney is one of the most powerful. Since the January 2001 12)debut of Lizzie McGuire， the

Disney Channel has become a creative engine

producing well-known names like the Cheetah Girls， High School Musical and Hannah Montana. The

latter two are each expected to gain $1 billion in

13)retail sales this year.

“They own the talent， they own the 14)distribution， they can show it all the time on television，” an editor， David Smay said. “It’s almost impossible not to have a hit.”

Disney’s long-running Mickey Mouse Club (where the Jonas Brothers came from) has also proven to be a 15)breeding ground for future stars. The TV show began in 1955， featuring a regular cast of teenage

performers. The series has been renamed and

16)reformatted several times， until it was 17)reincarnated by the Disney Channel in 1989. From then on， the show itself has launched the careers of Britney Spears， Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake.

Steve Greenberg found Nick’s CD in 2005， among a pile of recordings from artists Columbia Records wanted to drop. Greenberg， then the label’s president， said Nick’s voice reminded him of the previous pop group Hanson， whose debut album sold 12 million copies globally.

“This was the best voice I’ve heard since Hanson，” said Greenberg. “You don’t just let guys like this go.”

Rich Ross， president of Disney Channels Worldwide， didn’t hear the group until October

2006. “You know the expression ‘bring down the house’? They brought down the house; they brought down the city; they took

everything with them，” he said.

Although Disney’s tightly exposure of the Jonas Brothers is different from how boy bands were made years ago， the challenge for young performers remain the same， Smay says.

“What usually happens is that they get 18)dumped when they’re no longer young and pretty.”

But the managers surrounding the group say the best protection for young artists is a solid family.

“We grew up with a rule: even if at the top， look like you’re at the bottom，” Nick said. “It means to stay 19)humble and keep the right attitude through the whole thing.”

It’s obvious that the Jonas Brothers are following the path of Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus， but can they make the 20)transition Aguilera and Timberlake so effortlessly made from 21)Mouseketeers to superstars? Let’s just wait.

當樂隊成員踏出舞臺后門，走向他們的車子時，人群尖叫了起來。女生們擠壓著欄桿；有人將玫瑰拋過柵欄。這是某部電影中的一幕？不。這是三位年紀輕輕的萬人迷出現時的情景。唱片取得白金銷量的“喬納斯兄弟”是迪斯尼公司這臺面向“吞世代”的明星制造機的最新獲益者，他們可能成為繼《高校音樂劇》和《漢娜·蒙塔娜》之后的下一個超級品牌。

多年來，迪斯尼廣播和迪斯尼頻道不遺余力地促進喬納斯兄弟（15歲的尼克、18歲的喬和20歲的凱文）音樂事業的發展。迪斯尼公司還將其電視團隊全力投入到他們的第一部電影《搖滾青春》的制作當中。這樣的曝光率令三人成為美國當下的媒體關注

熱點。

“這個時候，電視團隊的不同平臺會聯合起來，共同推出一個有潛在價值的新品牌，”一位管理高層說道。

長期以來，電視媒體一直致力于推動有才華的年輕人發展自己的（演藝）事業。在眾多造星機器當中，迪斯尼是最強大的明星工廠之一。自從2001年1月《新成長的煩惱》首播以來，迪斯尼頻道就成了一個極具獨創性的造星引擎，推出了像“花豹美眉”、《高校音樂劇》、《漢娜·蒙塔娜》這樣家喻戶曉的名字——后兩者預計今年將分別取得10億美元的零售額。……