The Janoskians

The Janoskians (Just Another Name Of Silly Kids In Another Nation)^[1] are a YouTube comedy group originally from Melbourne, Australia, who are now based in Los Angeles.^[2] 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 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.^[3] The Janoskians have avid fans known as 'Janoskianators'.^[1]

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" and "Mood Swings".

Members

The group consists of:

• Beau Peter Brooks, born (1993-07-31) 31 July 1993, the eldest of the Brooks Brothers. Beau is commonly known as the front man for their music, with many professions including singing, modelling and acting.
• Luke Anthony Mark Brooks, born (1995-05-03) 3 May 1995, elder twin to Jai Brooks. Luke is also a singer in the group, as well as being a passionate photographer.
• Jaidon Domenic Matthew "Jai" Brooks, born (1995-05-03) 3 May 1995, younger twin and brother to Luke and Beau Brooks. Similarly to his brothers he is a singer in group and a passionate artist. Jai briefly dated ex girlfriend Ariana Grande.^[4]
• Daniel John Richard "Skip" Sahyounie, born (1994-10-31) 31 October 1994, a vocalist in the band. He also passionately supports Arsenal FC, regularly announcing his support and praise on social media.
• James Anthony Yammouni, born (1996-02-27) 27 February 1996, a rapper in the group, as well as DJing for the Janoskian shows. He releases yearly megamixes on New Year and presents "The James Yammouni Show" on YouNow.

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]

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.^[10] 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.^[1]

In 2012, the Janoskians signed a contract with Sony Music Australia.^[11][12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14][15]

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.^[16]

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.^[17]

Lionsgate announced in May 2014 that it had signed a deal with The Janoskians for launching a film featuring them.^[18]

"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. This was followed by another new release titled "That's What She Said" in 2014 and "LA Girls" in 2015.

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.,^[19] 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.^[20]

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."^[21] The group has been criticized for pulling "disgusting pranks on strangers"^[22] and for engaging in "sleazy, offensive and intimidating" behaviour around babies and women.^[23][24] The Janoskians deny that they're being bad role models, arguing everyone realises it's all an act, and in defence of the criticisms they said:

"It’s what we want to do. We want to push the boundaries, we just want the reactions out of people. Each single person that we do it to, we go and say ‘sorry this is what we're doing it for, this is the purpose’ and they're cool with it. If they're not we don’t put it up. We are normal children. The clips are just an act at the end of the day, just entertainment."

The Janoskians then took 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.^[25]

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.^[26]

Discography

Albums / EPs

Singles

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Janoskians.

• Official website