"Sucker" is a song by American

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

band

Jonas Brothers The Jonas Brothers () are an American pop rock band. Formed in 2005, they gained popularity from their appearances on the Disney Channel television network. They consist of three brothers: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. Raised in W ...

. The song was released on March 1, 2019, through

Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

. It is the group's first single released together in six years, since their reunion a day before the song was released. Ryan Tedder wrote and produced the song alongside the group co-writing with Louis Bell,

Mustafa Ahmed Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Mou ...

and

Homer Steinweiss Homer Steinweiss is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expression ...

. The song was also co-produced by

Frank Dukes Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...

. The Jonas Brothers appeared on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show on CBS. It is the fourth and current iteration of '' The Late Late Show''. Airing in the U.S. from Monday to Friday nights at 12:37:28am ...

'' each night from March 4 to 7 to promote the track. It became the brothers' biggest hit single to date, reaching number one in several countries, including Australia, Canada, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovakia and the United States. The official music video for "Sucker" featured their wives: Priyanka Chopra (Nick's wife), Sophie Turner (Joe's then-fiancée and now wife) and

Danielle Jonas Danielle Jonas (; born September 18, 1986) is an American reality television personality, actress, and the founder of the jewelry company Danielle Jonas Co. She is best known for starring on ''Married to Jonas'' alongside her husband, musician a ...

(Kevin's wife). The song was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards and in four categories at the

2019 MTV Video Music Awards The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 26, 2019, at the Prudential Center in Newark, being the first VMA ceremony to be held in New Jersey. Sebastian Maniscalco hosted the 36th annual ceremony. Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and Billie ...

, including Video of the Year, winning for

Best Pop Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop was first given out in under the name of Best Pop Video, as MTV began to put several teen pop acts in heavy rotation. Nominations, however, were not just limited to pop acts, as dance, R&B, pop/rock, and reg ...

Background and composition

The group had blacked out their social media prior to announcing the release on February 28. ''

Us Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is a weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to American Media Inc ...

'' had also revealed the title of the song before the announcement. On ''

'', Nick Jonas stated that "We've kept this a secret now for almost seven, eight months." In terms of

musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...

, the song is composed in time and the key of

C♯ minor C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C, with the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps. The C-sharp natural minor scale is: : Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale ...

with moderately fast

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 138 beats per minute. The band's vocals span a range of B₃ to C♯₅.

Commercial performance

In the United States, "Sucker" debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the US Hot Digital Songs chart, with 88,000 copies sold in its first week. It was the thirty-fourth song to debut atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Sucker" became the Jonas Brothers' first number-one song and the first number one by a boy band on the chart since 2003's " Bump, Bump, Bump" by

B2K B2K (Boys of the New Millennium) was an American boy band that was active from 1998 to 2004, and again from 2018 to 2019. In 1998, the group was formed by American dance choreographer Dave Scott and Interscope A&R Keshia Gamble. The members ...

featuring

P. Diddy Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

. It became the band's first entry on the chart since 2013's "

Pom Poms A pom-pom – also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon – is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material. The term may refer to large tufts used by cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, also known as a ...

" and their first top 10 since 2008's "

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

". The Jonas Brothers also became the second group in a lead role in history to have a song debuted at number one after

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

rock ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cu ...

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" is a song performed by American hard rock band Aerosmith as the official theme song for the 1998 sci-fi disaster film ''Armageddon'', in which lead singer Steven Tyler's daughter Liv starred. It is one of four ...

" from '' Armageddon'' (1998) and the first group in this century to achieve this. It fell to number six the following week, but as airplay continued to rise the song was able to return to the top five in May and reached as high as number three on May 27, while also reaching the top of the Radio Songs chart. The song ultimately spent 22 weeks in the top ten of the chart before falling 9–12 on August 17, 2019. In the April 20, 2019 issue of ''Billboard's''

Dance/Mix Show Airplay Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. History The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic d ...

Chart, "Sucker" became the Jonas' first number one, surging to the top spot within four weeks. This was also their first song in the United Kingdom to chart the Top 10 and consequently, the Top 5, debuting at number 6 and later peaking at number 4 on the fourth week. As of May 8, 2019, the song had over 630 million global streams.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Anthony Mandler Anthony Mandler (born April 18, 1973) is an American film director, music video director, television commercial director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on s ...

and premiered showcasing the brothers with each of their significant others: Kevin's wife

Danielle Danielle is a modern French female variant of the male name Daniel, meaning "God is my judge" in the Hebrew language. Variants *Dana – Czech, German, Romanian Polish *Danette – English *Daniela – Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, English, German, ...

(née Deleasa), Nick's wife

Priyanka Chopra Jonas Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awar ...

, and Joe's then–fiancée Sophie Turner. It was filmed in Hertfordshire at Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, where

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

grew up and featured corgis, which are the favorite breed of Queen Elizabeth II. Their outfits were designed by

Prabal Gurung Prabal Gurung ( ne, प्रवल गुरुङ) (born 1979) is a Singapore–born Nepalese–American fashion designer based in New York City. Early life and education Gurung was born on March 31, 1979, in Singapore to Nepali parents and ...

, from his debut menswear line. The video cites The Blue Angel with Sophie Turner smoking in blue négligée and top hat as Lola Lola (

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

) while Joe Jonas embarrasses himself in a bondage position as Professor Immanuel Rath ( Emil Jannings).

Awards and nominations

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" , - ! Year ! Organization ! Award ! Result ! Ref. , - ! scope="row" rowspan="16", 2019 , rowspan=2,

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United S ...

, Choice Song: Group , , align="center" rowspan=2 , , - , Choice Pop Song , , - , rowspan=4,

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

, Video of the Year , , align="center" rowspan=4, , - , Song of the Year , , - ,

, , - , Song of the Summer , , - , rowspan=2, LOS40 Music Awards , Best International Song , , - , Best International Video , , - ,

MTV Millennial Awards The MTV Millennial Awards (commonly abbreviated as a MIAW) is an annual program of Latin American music awards, presented by the cable channel MTV Latin America to honor the best of Latin music and the digital world of the millennial generation. T ...

, Global Hit , , - ,

MTV Millennial Awards Brazil The MTV Millennial Awards Brazil (commonly abbreviated as MTV MIAW BR) were established by MTV Brazil in 2018 to celebrate music, television and internet artists. The first edition happened in May 2018 and was hosted by Whindersson Nunes in São ...

, Global Hit , , - ,

Nickelodeon Mexico Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards Mexico is an annual awards show that awards entertainers with a blimp trophy, as voted by children on the Internet. The show is usually held in September and televised days later through Nickelodeon. Hosts Ed ...

, Favorite Hit , , - ,

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice) is an annual American children's awards ceremony show that is produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, the show honors ...

, Favorite Song , , - ,

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

, Song of the Year , , - , rowspan=3 , TeleHit Awards , Best Anglo Video , , - , Best Anglo Song , , - , People’s Best Video , , - ! scope=row rowspan=7 , 2020 ,

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance , , align="center" , , - , ASCAP Music Awards , Song of the Year , , - ,

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

, Best Radio Song , , - , BMI Pop Awards , Most Performed Song of the Year , , - , rowspan=3 , iHeartRadio Music Awards , Song of the Year , , - , Best Music Video , , - , Titanium Award ,

Live performances

On March 7, 2019, the Jonas Brothers performed the song for the first time on ''

''. On May 2, 2019, they performed the song at the ''Billboard'' Music Awards along with Nick's debut hit ''Jealous'' and

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

's hit song '' Cake by the Ocean'' with his band DNCE. On May 11, 2019, they performed the song again on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' as the musical guests. They also performed the song on the first episode of ''

All That ''All That'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by Tollin/Robbins P ...

's'' revival on June 15, 2019. The Jonas Brothers performed "Sucker" along "X" (without Karol G) and "What A Man Gotta Do" as Exclusive 'home' sessions recorded especially for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's Big Weekend.

Plagiarism allegations

American rock band,

Portugal. The Man Portugal. The Man is an American rock band from Wasilla, Alaska, currently based in Portland, Oregon. The group consists of John Baldwin Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O'Quin, Jason Sechrist, Eric Howk and Zoe Manville. Gourley and Carothers met a ...

accused the Jonas Brothers' song as copying their 2017 single, " Feel It Still". Portugal. The Man tweeted: "To be fair, the chorus of Feel It Still sounds very similar to

Please Mister Postman "Please Mr. Postman" is a song written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman. It is the debut single by the Marvelettes for the Tamla ( Motown) label, notable as the first Motown song to reach th ...

the Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...

... Which we respectfully cleared and thanked them for every chance we got. As one does. @jonasbrothers" The band later clarified saying that they were "not mad at all", and that they "actually dig a lot of their music and Nick's solo records".

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * Tidal (album), ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * ...

. * Nick Jonas – vocals, songwriter *

Joe Jonas Joseph Adam Jonas (born August 15, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the pop rock band the Jonas Brothers, alongside his brothers Kevin Jonas, Kevin and Nick Jonas, Nick. The group released their ...

– vocals, songwriter * Kevin Jonas – vocals, songwriter * Louis Bell – songwriter, bass guitar * Ryan Tedder – background vocals, producer, songwriter, programmer, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drum programmer *

– co-producer, songwriter, guitar *

– drums, songwriter *

– songwriter * Andrew DeRoberts – guitar * Randy Merrill – mastering engineer * Serban Ghenea – mixer * John Hanes – assistant mixer

Charts

Weekly charts

{, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" , - ! scope="col", Chart (2019–2020) ! scope="col", Peak
position , - ! scope="row", Argentina ( Argentina Hot 100) , 54 , - , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", Bolivia ( Monitor Latino) , 6 , - , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", China Airplay/FL (''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'') , 3 , - , - ! scope="row", Colombia (

National-Report The National-Report is the Colombian music industry standard singles popularity chart tracking company. Chart rankings are based on radio play and issued weekly. The data are compiled by monitoring radio stations through an automated system in re ...

) , 30 , - ! scope="row", Costa Rica ( Monitor Latino) , 6 , - ! scope="row", Croatia ( HRT) , 3 , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", Ecuador (

) , 22 , - ! scope="row", El Salvador ( Monitor Latino) , 9 , - ! scope="row", Euro Digital Songs (''

'') , 6 , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", Greece ( IFPI) , 3 , - ! scope="row", Guatemala ( Monitor Latino) , 16 , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", Iceland (

Tonlist The music of Iceland includes vibrant folk and pop traditions, as well as an active classical and contemporary music scene. Well-known artists from Iceland include medieval music group Voces Thules, alternative rock band The Sugarcubes, singers B ...

) , 34 , - , - ! scope="row", Israel ( Media Forest) , 2 , - , - , - ! scope="row", Latvia ( LAIPA) , 3 , - ! scope="row", Lithuania ( AGATA) , 2 , - ! scope="row", Malaysia ( RIM) , 2 , - ! scope="row", Mexico Airplay (''

'') , 3 , - ! scope="row", Mexico Ingles Airplay (''

'') , 1 , - , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", Panama ( Monitor Latino) , 10 , - , - , - ! scope="row", Puerto Rico ( Monitor Latino) , 10 , - ! scope="row", Romania (

Airplay 100 Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...

) , 15 , - , - , - ! scope="row", Singapore ( RIAS) , 1 , - , - , - ! scope="row", Slovenia ( SloTop50) , 6 , - ! scope="row", South Korea ( Gaon) , 162 , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - ! scope="row", US ''Rolling Stone'' Top 100 , 15 , - ! scope="row", Venezuela (

) , 12

Year-end charts

{, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" , - ! scope="col", Chart (2019) ! scope="col", Position , - ! scope="row", Argentina Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 43 , - ! scope="row", Australia (ARIA) , 13 , - ! scope="row", Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) , 26 , - ! scope="row", Belgium (Ultratop Flanders) , 22 , - ! scope="row", Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia) , 24 , - ! scope="row", Bolivia Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 34 , - ! scope="row", Canada (Canadian Hot 100) , 12 , - ! scope="row", CIS (Tophit) , 33 , - ! scope="row", Costa Rica Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 20 , - ! scope="row", Denmark (Tracklisten) , 28 , - ! scope="row", El Salvador Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 39 , - ! scope="row", France (SNEP) , 144 , - ! scope="row", Germany (Official German Charts) , 51 , - ! scope="row", Guatemala Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 43 , - ! scope="row", Honduras Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 58 , - ! scope="row", Hungary (Rádiós Top 40) , 24 , - ! scope="row", Hungary (Single Top 40) , 45 , - ! scope="row", Iceland (Plötutíðindi) , 35 , - ! scope="row", Ireland (IRMA) , 25 , - ! scope="row", Latvia (LAIPA) , 29 , - ! scope="row", Mexico Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 6 , - ! scope="row", Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) , 42 , - ! scope="row", Netherlands (Single Top 100) , 47 , - ! scope="row", New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) , 22 , - ! scope="row", Nicaragua Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 94 , - ! scope="row", Panama Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 37 , - ! scope="row", Peru Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 97 , - ! scope="row", Poland (ZPAV) , 33 , - ! scope="row", Portugal (AFP) , 47 , - ! scope="row", Puerto Rico Airplay (Monitor Latino) , 50 , - ! scope="row", Romania (Airplay 100) , 63 , - ! scope="row", Russia Airplay (Tophit) , 33 , - ! scope="row", Slovenia (SloTop50) , 16 , - ! scope="row", Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) , 31 , - ! scope="row", Ukraine Airplay (Tophit) , 156 , - ! scope="row", UK Singles (Official Charts Company) , 29 , - ! scope="row", US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 , 10 , - ! scope="row", US Adult Contemporary (''Billboard'') , 9 , - ! scope="row", US Adult Top 40 (''Billboard'') , 1 , - ! scope="row", US Dance/Mix Show Airplay (''Billboard'') , 2 , - ! scope="row", US Mainstream Top 40 (''Billboard'') , 2 , - ! scope="row", US ''Rolling Stone'' Top 100 , 14 {, class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" , - ! scope="col", Chart (2020) ! scope="col", Position , - ! scope="row", Hungary (Rádiós Top 40) , 90 , - ! scope="row", US Adult Contemporary (''Billboard'') , 6

Decade-end charts

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" , - ! scope="col", Chart (2010–2019) ! scope="col", Position , - ! scope="row", US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 , 88

Certifications

Notes

References

{{Jonas Brothers 2019 singles 2019 songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Jonas Brothers songs Music videos directed by Anthony Mandler Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Singapore Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Song recordings produced by Ryan Tedder Songs written by Frank Dukes Songs written by Joe Jonas Songs written by Kevin Jonas Songs written by Louis Bell Songs written by Nick Jonas Songs written by Ryan Tedder Song recordings produced by Frank Dukes Republic Records singles