The 2010s File Feature
Toothbrush
Toothbrush — DNCE (2016): Chart Performance and the Rise of a Pop Supergroup "Toothbrush" was one of the breakthrough moments for DNCE, the band formed by Jo…
01 The Story
Toothbrush — DNCE (2016): Chart Performance and the Rise of a Pop Supergroup
"Toothbrush" was one of the breakthrough moments for DNCE, the band formed by Joe Jonas following the hiatus of the Jonas Brothers, and it represented a significant step forward in the group's commercial trajectory after their debut single "Cake by the Ocean" had established their identity in late 2015. Released in June 2016, the song arrived during a period of genuine momentum for the band, which had built a following through heavy radio rotation of their debut single and a series of well-received live performances. The track demonstrated that the band's initial success was not a novelty but the beginning of a sustained commercial presence.
DNCE was formed in 2015 and consisted of Joe Jonas on lead vocals, Jack Lawless on drums, JinJoo Lee on guitar, and Cole Whittle on bass. The group signed with Republic Records, part of the Universal Music Group, and worked with a roster of producers suited to the funk-influenced pop sound they were developing. "Toothbrush" was produced by Mattman and Robin, the Swedish production duo who had become significant figures in contemporary pop through their work with major artists across multiple genres. The production on "Toothbrush" was characteristically clean and radio-optimized, built around a midtempo groove that was more emotionally intimate than the uptempo party feel of "Cake by the Ocean."
The song's subject matter, describing the comfortable intimacy of waking up next to someone, was deliberately understated by pop radio standards, and that restraint proved to be commercially effective. On the Billboard Hot 100, "Toothbrush" peaked at number 24, a solid mainstream performance that confirmed DNCE's ability to place more than one song in the chart's upper reaches. The track performed strongly on Adult Top 40 and Pop Songs airplay charts, where its mellow funk sensibility and Jonas's warm vocal performance connected with programmers looking for relationship-oriented content that wasn't overly aggressive or club-focused.
The accompanying music video featured Jonas and actress and model Bella Thorne, which generated significant entertainment press coverage beyond the music media ecosystem and helped extend the song's promotional reach. The pairing of two figures with substantial social media followings amplified the track's visibility in the period immediately following the video's release. DNCE was already known for their active social media presence, which had been a significant factor in building the rapid fanbase that their debut single had converted into chart performance.
"Toothbrush" was included on DNCE's self-titled debut album, released in October 2016 on Republic Records. The album arrived after a period of aggressive single release strategy, with multiple tracks introduced to radio and streaming platforms before the full project appeared. This approach was consistent with the way Republic and other major labels were navigating the streaming era's disruption of traditional album release cycles. The album charted on the Billboard 200 and received generally favorable reviews that positioned DNCE as a credible pop act rather than a celebrity vehicle.
Joe Jonas's transition from the Jonas Brothers to DNCE was widely discussed in the entertainment press as a model for how artists associated with teenage pop could reinvent their commercial identity for an adult audience. The funk and R&B influences in DNCE's sound were understood as a deliberate shift away from the clean pop of the Jonas Brothers years, and "Toothbrush" illustrated that the transition had been successfully executed. The song's adult contemporary sensibility, dealing with the domestic comfort of a long-term relationship rather than the excitement of new attraction, was read as Jonas growing into more mature lyrical territory.
The song has continued to find audiences through streaming in the years following its initial release, benefiting from the nostalgia for mid-2010s pop that has developed among listeners who came of age with the song. DNCE's catalog, and "Toothbrush" in particular, accumulated streaming numbers substantially beyond what the song's initial chart peak might have suggested, reflecting the long tail that streaming distribution has created for commercially successful pop music from the period.
02 Song Meaning
Toothbrush — DNCE: Domestic Intimacy, Comfort, and the Romanticism of the Ordinary
"Toothbrush" is a love song organized around a detail so mundane that its presence in a pop record is itself a statement. The toothbrush left at a partner's home is a shorthand for a relationship that has moved past the giddy uncertainty of early attraction and settled into something more durable and quietly significant. The song finds romantic meaning not in grand gestures or heightened emotion but in the comfortable routines that indicate genuine intimacy, the kind that develops when two people stop performing for each other and simply exist together.
The emotional register of the song is deliberately calm and warm. Joe Jonas's vocal performance throughout the track prioritizes ease over drama, conveying a narrator who is content rather than tormented, settled rather than searching. This was an unusual choice for a pop song aimed at mainstream radio, where heightened emotional states tend to generate more immediate listener engagement. That DNCE made it work commercially reflects both the quality of the production and the genuine emotional intelligence of the songwriting, which found a way to make contentment feel interesting rather than inert.
The funk-influenced production by Mattman and Robin supports the song's thematic content by creating a sonic environment that feels relaxed and pleasurable rather than urgent. The midtempo groove invites listeners to settle into the song rather than be propelled through it, which is the appropriate physical response to a song about the pleasures of staying in place. The production choices and the lyrical subject matter work together to create a coherent emotional experience, which is more difficult to achieve than it might appear.
Within DNCE's catalog, "Toothbrush" represented a significant expansion of the group's emotional range beyond the party-focused energy of their debut. "Cake by the Ocean" was effective precisely because it was unsubtle, all surface energy and immediate appeal. "Toothbrush" demonstrated that the band could sustain a more nuanced emotional note, which was important for establishing that they were a band with a genuine artistic identity rather than a one-note act. The commercial success of the follow-up single validated that judgment and opened the door to a more varied catalog.
The domesticity at the center of the song also participates in a broader cultural moment in which pop music was increasingly engaging with the pleasures of ordinary life rather than aspiring exclusively toward the exceptional. The mid-2010s saw a number of major pop acts explore themes of comfort, familiarity, and the everyday alongside the more traditional pop subjects of desire and heartbreak. "Toothbrush" fits within that current, finding in a small household object the emotional weight that other songs located in dramatic events. The specificity of the central image, a toothbrush as proof of commitment, gave the song a memorability that more abstract statements of affection often lack.
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