There’s a chance you’ve never heard of the Jonas Brothers, and if you’re younger than 15, there’s a chance you don’t have a Jonas Brothers poster hanging in your bedroom. But the chances of either are slim.

The teen pop trio from New Jersey have released three chart-topping albums in the last three years and inspire the sort of lust, obsession, and mass fainting spells that make comparisons to the Beatles inevitable.

While the dreamy sibs have certainly achieved success overseas, we wondered if the boy band equation (cute young guys + catchy tunes = $) holds true in other regions of the world. The answer? Definitely.

Here’s a sampling from around the globe:

Band Name: Jal

Bio: These three Jonas Brothers look-alikes hail from Pakistan. Their style is modern rock with Urdu lyrics and a touch of traditional melodies.

Backstory: In Urdu, “Jal” means water. According to the band, “The name affirms the intimate connection of water to the rhythm of our lives.”

Bigness: They were named Best Rock Band in Pakistan at the 2006 Indus Music Awards and have found enormous crossover success in India.

Beliefs: “Seeing the kind of love we get in India, we are just left wondering who makes all this fuss about [the] India-Pakistan relationship,” says lead singer Farhan Saeed Butt.     

Band Name: Camila

Bio: Based in Mexico City, the trio brings American rock and R&B influences to their highly personal ballads.

Backstory: Leader Mario Domm is a producing prodigy who decided to form his own band. As for the moniker: “We liked the contrast of having a female name with three dudes on the stage,” says band member Samo.

Bigness: The three landed a contract with Sony BMG and have sold over a million records. They embarked on their first U.S. tour last summer and sang on a Kenny G album.

Beliefs: Domm said recently, “I think Mexico is in a moment of musical evolution. The record companies in Mexico are supporting artists that are doing original songs that aren’t prefabricated, and this helps a lot for a singer-songwriter who has something to say and gets up on stage and says it.”

Band Name: Sonohra

Bio: This Italian duo—two brothers, Luca and Diego— write their own music and lyrics, wrapped up in a pleasing package of flat-ironed hair and skinny ties.

Backstory: Sonohra is obsessed with the U.K., setting songs in England and Ireland and counting Brit bands (the Beatles, Coldplay) among their musical idols. The name comes from “suono ora," or "sound now." If you really want to know, their official site says: "The name of the duo, Sonohra, itself contains many meanings: it is called the Sonora desert which borders the state of California, [it] refers to the concept of music without discrimination, and [it means] "sound now."

Bigness: The boys won the Youth category at the 2008 San Remo Song Festival and were nominated for Best Italian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

Beliefs: Their hit song "I Believe" reflects hope for the environment. "The subject is the man's greed that is destroying nature," says the duo. "But we 'believe' that man will be able to repent in time to avoid such a disaster."

Band Name: Big Bang

Bio: This five-member boy band is hugely popular in Korea, where young fans worship their R&B sound and edgy fashion sense.

Backstory: The guys were part of a “Making the Band”-style TV show that chronicled the group’s preparation for their debut.

Bigness: Tickets for their second concert tour, “Big Bang Is Great,” sold out in ten minutes, and the single “Lies" is so popular that Korean students sing it to their teachers when they forget their homework.

Beliefs: Big Bang is pro-ocean: In the video for "Sunset Glow," the boys wave signs reading "Let's Go West" and lead mobs of fans to the western beaches of Taean, cleaned up but still neglected by tourists after an oil spill in December 2007.

-Winona Dimeo-Ediger

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