The Janoskians

The Janoskians

The Janoskians appearing at a meet and greet session in Liverpool, June 2012. From left to right: Daniel Sahyoune, Beau Brooks, Luke Brooks, Jai Brooks, and James Yammouni.
Background information
Origin Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genres Pop music
Years active 2011–present
Labels Republic Records since March 2014,[1] previously Sony Music Australia
Website the-janoskians.com
Members

The Janoskians (Just Another Name Of Silly Kids In Another Nation)[2] are a YouTube comedy group originally from Melbourne, Australia, who are now based in Los Angeles.[3] The group consists of elder brother Beau Brooks, twins Luke and Jai Brooks, and friends James Yammouni and Daniel Sahyounie.

Their videos include performing gross out humor and non-consensual pranks on members of the public as well as each other, mockumentaries, dares and skits. They have their own clothing line known as Dirty Pig Clothing.[4] The Janoskians have avid fans known as 'Janoskianators'.[2]

The Janoskians have completed two world tours in 2013 and 2014, as well as a sold out one-off show at Wembley Arena, London in 2015. They appeared in the 28th Annual Kids Choice Awards. Their hits include "Set This World on Fire", "Best Friends", "Real Girls Eat Cake", "This Freaking Song", "That's What She Said", "Would U Love Me", "LA Girl" "Friend Zone", "Mood Swings" and "Teenage Desperate" and "Love What You Have" which was released in April 2016.

Members

The group consists of:

All five members were born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Three of them are brothers: Beau the eldest, Luke and Jai are twins.[5][6] Beau and Daniel finished high school but Luke, James and Jai dropped out to focus on the group.[7]

Career

2011: Beginnings and breakthrough

The Janoskians began posting videos on YouTube in July 2011.[8][9] They appeared also in the music video for "Forget The World" by Australian singer Faydee[10] pulling off some of their typical stunts in a classroom setting. Jai Brooks also appeared in the music video of another big hit of Faydee titled "Can't Let Go".[11]

2012–2013: International success

On 31 March 2012, the group scheduled a meet and greet with their fans at Melbourne's Luna Park theme park. The event had to be cancelled when unexpectedly large crowds turned up.[12] Whilst in Perth, Western Australia, the group scheduled a meet and greet event at Westfield Whitford City shopping centre on 7 July 2012. The event attracted 3,000 teenagers, who met the group and obtained autographs. Many fans arrived early and camped out to ensure they had a chance to meet the members.[2]

In 2012, the Janoskians signed a contract with Sony Music Australia.[13][14] Their first single, "Set This World on Fire", co-written by Beau Brooks, was released in September 2012 on the Janoskians' YouTube channel, first as an audio file, and later with an "unofficial" video.[15] The Janoskians encouraged their fans to create their own videos for the song.

In late 2012, the group produced an eight-episode web show for MTV Australia titled The Janoskians: MTV Sessions. The show was posted to MTV Australia's website over an 8-week period.[16][17]

The Janoskians had their first charting hit in 2012 with "Set This World on Fire" peaking it at number 19 in the Australian Singles Chart, and also made it to Top 30 in New Zealand and Top 100 in the UK. The follow up single "Best Friends" reached number 30 in Australia also charting in New Zealand, the Netherlands and the UK. The Janoskians had scheduled a meet and greet at the Wet Seal store in the Beverly Center in Los Angeles on 13 October 2013. The group expected only a few hundred people, but when thousands of fans arrived, the event was cancelled and the mall was evacuated.[18]

2014–present: Got Cake Tour, EP and JanoFest

On 22 February 2014, The Janoskians organised a meet-up in Times Square, New York. 20,000 fans arrived, hoping to meet the group to get autographs. Police closed off 7th Avenue at 43rd Street for several hours and hustled the group into Foxwoods Theater, leaving the waiting fans disappointed.[19]

Lionsgate announced in May 2014 that it had signed a deal with The Janoskians for launching a film featuring them.[20]

"This Fuckin Song" was their new 2014 release. A clean radio-friendly version has also been launched retitled "This Freakin Song". Both were released on 29 July 2014 on Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings.

In 2015, they released Would U Love Me - EP with three singkle / music videos from EP "That's What She Said" in 2014 and "LA Girls", "MoodSwings", "Would U Love Me". "Friend Zone" was also released in 2015.

For their JanoFest event, the band released a long single called "Rock Opera" in March 2015 where each member had his own separate contribution on the record.

Online popularity

A group of teenage fans waiting for The Janoskians at an appearance in Sydney.

As of February 2015, the group's YouTube channel has over 1.8 million subscribers. Aside from their original and main channel, "Janoskians," they have three additional channels where they regularly post videos: "JanoskiansBlog," "DareSundays," and "TwinTalkTime." The Janoskians also credit Twitter and Facebook for their success; Each member of the group has over a million followers on Twitter, and all of them use it, along with Facebook, to regularly and directly interact with their fans.

Their first video was uploaded in September 2011.,[21] and their early videos were initially intended to be a way to show off their pranks to personal friends, but as time went on, they became popular among the general public.[6] In an interview, a member said their video, "Awkward Train Situations" was a part of the beginning of their, "kick-off" launch as a label.[7]

The Janoskians offer material on social networking services and are commonly the subject of fanfiction.[8]

Criticism

The Janoskians have been criticised for their reckless, dangerous and juvenile behaviour, and pushing their boundaries too far. Media commentator Prue MacSween stated that, "Their act - if you can call it that - is so juvenile, and I think really irresponsible. It's astounding the power of the internet now. It just tells you that this global audience can be viral and suddenly nobodies with very little talent can suddenly be known by the world."[22] The group has been criticized for pulling "disgusting pranks on strangers"[23] and for engaging in "sleazy, offensive and intimidating" behaviour around babies and women.[24][25]

The Janoskians have taken to Twitter to mock Prue MacSween for her comments by opening up the Twitter account 'Prune McSwineflu' (@MsMcSwineflu) after they featured the parody character in one of their YouTube videos.[26]

Cyberbullying and lawsuit

A hate and bullying campaign rose against the Janoskians, which allegedly later went on to the courts, although this has not been verified by the group themselves. The alleged reasoning for legal action was the scamming of an auction which was set up by the group. Prior to this, a hate page was created on Facebook with more than 19,000 fans whom have left threats of violence along with racist and homophobic slurs towards the group. Victoria Police stated that they were not intervening with the allegations and wouldn't comment whether they were investigating the hate page or the creator of it.[27]

Discography

Albums / EPs

Title and details Notes
Would U Love Me
  • Type: EP
  • Released: March 2, 2015[28]
  • Record label: Republic Records
    (division of UMG Recordings)
No. Title Length
1. "Would U Love Me"   3:00
2. "MoodSwings"   2:59
3. "L.A. Girl"   3:28
4. "Real Girls Eat Cake"   2:51

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
AUS
[29]		 NL
[30]		 NZ
[31]		 UK
2012 "Set This World on Fire" 19 — 23 91 Non-album singles
2013 "Best Friends" 30 83 35 58
2014 "Real Girls Eat Cake" 63[32] — — 37 Would U Love Me
"This Freakin Song"[33] /
"This Fuckin Song"[34][35]		 — — — — Non-album singles
"That's What She Said" — — — —
2015 "LA Girl" — — — — Would U Love Me
"MoodSwings" — — — —
"Would U Love Me" — — — —
"Friend Zone" — — — — Non-album singles
"Teenage Desperate" — — — —
"All I Want 4 Christmas" — — — —
2016 "Love What You Have" — — — —
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.republicrecords.com/big-news-janoskians-partnered-republic-crazy/
  2. 1 2 3 "Janoskians overshadow Karise show". The West Australian. 7 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Janoskians' screaming fans". Sky News. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Dirty Pig Apparel". ShopDirtyPig.
  5. ↑ "The Janoskians: A 10-Step Beginner's Guide To Our Favorite Teen Comedy Troupe". Huffington Post. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Meet the Janoskians, the Aussie <not a > Boy Band". VICE.com. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  7. 1 2 "The Janoskians interview". TimeOut Melbourne. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  8. 1 2 Adrian Lowe (16 February 2012). "No meet, no greet: Janoskians fans sent home from Luna Park". The Age. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "The Janoskians". Dolly.ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  10. ↑ FaydeeTV on YouTube: Faydee - "Forget The World (FML)"
  11. ↑ FaydeeTV on YouTube: Faydee - "Can't Let Go"
  12. ↑ "Fans go wild for boy band of pranksters with bad Justin Bieber hair". Herald Sun. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  13. ↑ Luke Dennehy (15 July 2012). "Video pranks pay off for The Janoskians as they sign deal with Sony". Sunday Herald Sun.
  14. ↑ Tineka Everaardt (9 July 2012). "Who are the Janoskians?". Today Tonight (Yahoo!7). Archived from the original on 23 July 2012.
  15. ↑ "Set This World On Fire – MUSIC VIDEO (UNOFFICIAL)". YouTube. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "Introducing 'The Janoskians: MTV Sessions'!". MTV Australia. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "The Janoskians: MTV Sessions". MTV Australia.
  18. ↑ "Beverly Center evacuated after thousands show up to see band". ABC News. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  19. ↑ Kristina Behr (22 February 2014). "Thousands of teens shut down Times Square to see Australian pranksters". Pix11.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  20. ↑ Mike Fleming Jr. "Lionsgate Signs YouTube Pranksters The Janoskians To Movie Deal". Deadline.
  21. ↑ "The Janoskians". MTV Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  22. ↑ Tineka Everaardt (2012-07-09). "Who are the Janoskians? - Today Tonight". Au.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  23. ↑ "Police called in after clash between pranksters The Janoskians and Facebeef at Federation Square". Herald Sun. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  24. ↑ "Our sorriest export, sexually-menacing 'comedy'". Herald Sun. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  25. ↑ "The Janoskians under fire for sick baby skit". Herald Sun. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  26. ↑ "Prune McSwineful (@MsMcSwineflu) Twitter". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  27. ↑ Parri, Linda (2012-10-22). "Troll slapped with intervention order after The Janoskians fight cyber bullies in court". News.com.au. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  28. ↑ "Would U Love Me - EP The Janoskians". iTunes.
  29. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "Discography The Janoskians". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  30. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "Discografie The Janoskians". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  31. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "Discography The Janoskians". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  32. ↑ "ARIA Chartifacts 26 May 2014".
  33. ↑ "iTunes - Music - This Freakin Song - Single by The Janoskians". iTunes.
  34. ↑ "iTunes - Music - This F**kin Song - Single by The Janoskians". iTunes.
  35. ↑ Australian-charts.com: The Janoskians - "This Fucking Song" single page

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