Scottsdale musician wants to sing with the Jonas Brothers at PHX Arena

A Scottsdale resident is determined to sing on stage with the Jonas Brothers during the Phoenix stop of the Greetings from Your Hometown Tour.

The beloved boy band brothers are hitting stages across the country to celebrate two decades of bringing iconic pop music to audiences. The tour, which runs from August to November, is a must-see experience for local fan Robert Cole Jr.

Cole and his wife are suckers for the Jonas Brothers, making a pact to see them every time they are able to go. The reunion has Jonatics everywhere excited, but for Cole, the show at PHX Arena is more than a nostalgic night. His focus is on the future, with the goal of launching his musical career on stage.

On June 29, Cole committed to a social media campaign to perform Kevin Jonas’s only single, “I Left My Heart in Scandinavia,” a song from the Jonas Brothers’ Disney Channel days. His determination to sing with the band began this past summer, but his love for them dates back to 2006, when he listened to their first album in his childhood room.

Since the end of June, Cole has yet to miss a TikTok upload out of the 93 he plans on doing. The campaign will end on September 28, the day of the Valley show. As that day draws closer, the small creator is keeping his hopes high.

“I even told my therapist, I fully understand that it’s kind of delusional to think that I can play on stage with the Jonas Brothers,” Cole said. “However, I also thought it was delusional to think that they would even be in contact with me.”
At the beginning of the year, he began a different TikTok video series, covering the bands’ songs, trying to get some brotherly love in the comment section. After 44 videos, Joe Jonas made an appearance in one of Cole’s TikTok Lives back in March. After respectfully freaking out over Joe Jonas telling Cole to play whatever he wanted, he began confidently strumming “Please Be Mine,” a deep cut off the Jonas Brothers’ debut album. The lead vocalist stayed to listen to Cole’s cover, ending the surreal experience by commenting, “Welllll done.”

The inspiration for the “Scandinavia” series came when he got a TikTok comment from Kevin on June 21. The upside-down smiley face emoji was in response to Cole’s post joking that Kevin should come out with a solo album, “but it’s just Scandinavia 14 times.” This was the second of three times Cole had direct engagement with the Brothers.

Since then, Cole has only felt more confident. He spends a lot of time engaging with commenters under his videos and on other Jonas Brothers fan accounts. It’s been a rollercoaster, he said. At first, it was weird having people engaging, leaving feedback, and sharing their love. But it has been overwhelmingly positive and a fun networking opportunity.

“I've had a few comments saying like, ‘you know, Kevin hates that song, right?’ And my response to that is, well, that's why I'm going to sing it,” Cole said.

Every show on the tour has had huge surprises; the biggest news bodes well for Cole, as Kevin Jonas came out of the woodwork to debut his second original song. If there was ever a time for Kevin to perform his two-song discography, it seems pretty perfect.

Cole will be singing his heart out at the September show, and thinks that if he were to be brought on stage, he won’t know until they make the announcement live at the Arena.

When the self-proclaimed optimist first started his campaign, it was all about the end goal — getting on stage and playing with his idols; but as the show date nears, his feelings have shifted. He realizes now it’s not the outcome that matters, it’s the journey that has him burnin’ up with purpose.

“I'm essentially inspiring others to also play music, which I think is amazing,” Cole said. “It's helped me grow as a creator and gain a following. I've gained not a ton, but like every couple of videos, I'm averaging like 1 to 2 followers gained per video.”

Cole has created a community of music lovers. He held a Jonas Brothers karaoke night on TikTok Live, inviting other fans to sing or play with him. The event was initially scheduled for two hours, but lasted for five and a half hours. Whether it’s bonding over the Jonas Brothers or one of the over 500 songs Cole has listed he can cover, his little musical corner of the internet has fueled his pursuits.

Cole has known his whole life that he wants to be a musician. It doesn’t matter if it ends up being a solo career or as a backup player, he just wants to be playing, “I'll gladly take the crown of Mr. Scandinavia if it gets people to listen to my music,” he said.
Raised in Southern California, he picked up the guitar in the 7th grade. Even before that, though, he always knew he wanted to be a musician. Born into his own band of musical brothers, he played bass with them during high school.

For his own brotherly reunion, he and two of his brothers did a pop-punk version of Scandinavia. It took them three takes to get it right, and even still, it isn’t perfect, but Cole doesn't edit any of his videos.

“We either start over or we just leave it,” he said.

He committed to growing his social media presence since the release of his first single, "Home," in November 2024.

“The whole TikTok thing helps me since I'm on live and I'm already playing, a lot of times I'll throw in my original songs,” Cole said. “I'm just practicing, like fine-tuning them on live, which is nice, since then I get instant feedback.”

With 14 original songs in the works, his plan after the concert is to focus on recording and releasing his own music.

Maintaining this series, he says, has taught him a lot of discipline and dedication. He has never done something like this before with such consistency, and he feels that it has made him a better musician, sparking a creative drive for his own music production. He notes that his favorite cover from the series is day 66.

“Regardless if I play on stage or not, I will genuinely be kind of sad that it's over,” Cole said. “Because you're talking, like 100 days of the first thing on my mind every day is Scandinavia and the Jonas Brothers.”