Flashback: Disney’s 2009 Stars Release Empowering Charity Single ‘Send It On’
Around 2009, no one probably foresaw that the Disney stars of that moment would be leading the pop conversation a decade later. These days, the Jonas Brothers are selling out arenas around the globe, Miley Cyrus is still at the forefront of pop conversations, Selena Gomez continues to chart Hot 100 hits across several genres and Demi Lovato is fresh off her second Grammy nomination for an empowering duet with Christina Aguilera.
These stars are in lanes of their own these days, but in 2009 they were all a semi-united front as the faces of Disney talent. There were crossover episodes between their sitcoms, joint tours and love triangles galore, but the only moment Cyrus, Lovato, Gomez and the Jonas Brothers came together was for “Send It On,” a power ballad that benefited Disney’s Friends for Change, the company’s green initiative.
The song and video launch with Cyrus and Nick Jonas conversationally singing the acoustic first verse. It opens up to belting, which Lovato soon assists with. She sings the second verse with Joe Jonas, with whom she shared her first Top 10 hit the year prior (Camp Rock‘s “This Is Me”). Gomez is joined by Kevin Jonas for a rare singing moment from the guitar-wielding eldest brother for the song’s bridge before all six of them pivot to a “We Are the World”-level rallying cry.
The song ended up doing well, cracking the Top 20 on the Hot 100. The following year, when the youngest contingent of this fleeting supergroup would all turn 18, they would all say their goodbyes to their Disney careers and personas, laying the groundwork for more “mature” careers beyond the institution. They have all intersected in various ways over the years since, and, of course, nostalgia for their era has been at an all-time high following the Jonas Brothers’ reunion. Each of them still have plenty to prove and do independently of this Disney gang, but let’s hope “Send It On” wasn’t also the last time they would all get back together.