Today

In TODAY’s “8 Before 8” series, Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson discuss re-releasing “Underneath,” life after “MMMBop” and, of course, their hair-care tips.

Hanson Talk ‘Underneath,’ Hair Tips and Dreams of Collabing With Haim

Back in 1997, the trio of brothers known as Hanson made their TODAY debut and have been dropping by Studio 1A ever since. Their latest visit, however, celebrated a bigger occasion — the release of “Underneath: Complete,” a reissue of the band’s 2004 album.

During their September visit, the group took up their instruments to perform new versions of their nostalgic hits and talk about their journey since boy band superstardom. Former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Kate McKinnon even joined to share the impact they had on her life … and her hairstyle.

Brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac started the band Hanson as young children in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and rose to fame in the late 1990s.

They are best known for their chart-topping 1997 single “MMMBop,” from their album “Middle of Nowhere,” which earned them three Grammy nominations.

The teenage trio, and their signature long blond hair, quickly grew a massive fan base around the world.

In 2003, Hanson formed their own label, 3CG Records, and released their first independent studio album, “Underneath,” in 2004. The brothers have been making music since, releasing a total of 12 studio albums.

Today, the Hanson brothers are all grown up and have 15 children between the three of them. They are still collaborating on new projects and even started a craft beer business, Hanson Brothers Beer, which features a pale ale aptly named “Mmmhops.”

In October 2024, to celebrate 20 years of 3CG, Hanson released the deluxe edition of “Underneath,” which features new versions of hits like “Penny & Me” and bonus tracks.

Ahead of their appearance on TODAY, the Hanson brothers sat down for “8 Before 8,” our original video series in which we ask artists eight questions before 8 a.m. Isaac, Taylor and Zac reflected on the last 20 years, discussed what the future holds and revealed the meaning behind “MMMBop.” (Plus, they even shared the secrets behind their iconic hair.)

What made you decide to revisit an album from 20 years ago?

Taylor Hanson: This album is special for a bunch of reasons. One, it launched us into an independent period. We launched a label, (so) it was a time where it was about taking chances and investing in our fans. … It’s really (a) “thank you” to a lot of fans that have stuck with us. Here we are, 20 years later, many albums later, many laps around the world later, and we really feel like we owe that to them, and so we wanted to do something special to celebrate.

Zac Hanson: “Underneath” was an album that had about 80 songs written for it. It seemed like a special way to remember that that record was to include some of the songs that did make it to a full recording, and include in that story the people that were involved — like Carole King, who we wrote songs with, and Bob Marlette, who produced, and Greg Wells. … So by adding more music to it and getting to revisit some of the songs, it sort of completes the story of that record and all that were involved.

What does “Penny & Me” mean to you now?

Isaac Hanson: “Penny & Me” was a really important part of the story of “Underneath.” It’s the very first single that we released from that record, but it was one of the very last songs that we recorded for the record. … We knew this song would find a special place, and it certainly has found a special place — not only for us personally, but with the fan base.

Zac: “Penny & Me” is also a song that really has a lot of references to other people’s music that inspired us, (it’s) sort of a love letter to that. … The new version of “Penny & Me” — we call it the “Moonlight” version — takes that another step further, in not just referencing songs like “Feelin’ Alright?” or “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake, but actually saying, what if we leaned into that style and did it in a different way?

Taylor: “Penny & Me” has brought people together in many ways. … We said let’s do a new music video that brings things back. We had Samaire Armstrong reprise her role as Penny in the video. I have a daughter named Penny, who played the 20-years-later Penny. Then Natalie Morales, who was a Hanson fan who became a successful director and writer — (she) became the director this. So you have all these things converging.

What is the meaning of “MMMBop”?

Zac: “MMMBop” is a song really about (how) we all have to make choices in life — some relationships will last and some will be short-lived. Even as a young person, we saw that you had to choose the path you wanted to be on and fight for the relationships and people you want to be in your life. … The chorus is really about the passage of time (and) how things will come and go, and the verses talk about how you’re going to have to grab and reach for the stuff that you want to be a part of your life.

Taylor: We’ve always loved the idea of putting a little bit of optimism into, well, there’s a problem, a challenge, but this is where we’re trying to go — and really, that’s what “MMMBop” is. It’s saying all these things are challenging, but you can’t change it. You have to embrace the moment. You have to be here right now.

What advice would you give to young new artists?

Zac: The first thing that we did was listen to other artists we loved and learn to sing their songs. That’s important. In a way, the apprenticeship of every musician is to first mimic. But the most important thing will be what you do that no one else does. The way you present your personality and your story and put your own words into your songs and your ideas. It’s your voice that’s going to be the thing that lasts generations if you have that moment to connect with people.

Isaac: Writing songs is a really, really important element of your creativity, because at the end of the day, you’re the one standing out there singing them. So you better have your signature on it in some way, shape or form. And the best way is to learn to be a good writer.

What is your kids’ relationship to music like?

Zac: Taylor’s seven kids, my five, Isaac’s three — it’s a brood.

Taylor: There’s absolutely a few musicians. I don’t know if they’ll be a cousin band … but I think there’s natural collaboration. There is some music being made between the cousins, because they’re around each other and around music. … It’ll be something that we can’t predict — who decides to embrace it and make this their life — but I would guess we’ll have a few. Between the 15, the odds are with us.

What are some of your next goals as a band?

Taylor: We’ve gotten to do some really amazing musical things. A couple years ago, we worked with symphonies all over the world. … Honestly, (it’s) writing, producing and taking your passion and getting behind other creators too — being that person to do what others did for us when we started. … So I think you’ll see us champion other artists, supporting and helping make those things happen.

Dream band collaboration?

Isaac: We are always into the idea of collaboration. … We’ve kind of joked about back and forth with the girls in Haim. Haim-son!

Zac: Brothers and sisters together.

Isaac: The cool thing is, you (Zac) are a drummer — they don’t have a drummer in their band.

Zac: We don’t have a bass player.

Isaac: Este’s a bass player, so, you know, we finally have a complete band.

What was your hair-care routine for your iconic looks?

Isaac: I wish that we had an ability to say something to people about (our) hair anything other than I use random shampoos.

Zac: I only wash my hair about once every six weeks. … The answer is that, I think, just stop putting chemicals in and let your body just do the work.

Isaac: You only wash your hair every six weeks? I wash my hair like the every three days.

Zac: Every six weeks, probably, I put shampoo in my hair. Just putting it out there: Rinse it all the time, but don’t put soap in it.

Taylor: The Hanson hair-care line is really a long time coming, we should just go ahead with that and it’s going to basically involve not doing much.

Zac: The hair care line would be like an empty bottle.

EW

Ryan Cabrera. Photo: 

Erik Johnson

Ryan Cabrera is turning back the clock to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first album, Take It All Away — and he’s enlisted what he calls a team of “TRL all-star alums” to help him.

Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive premiere of the new version of the singer’s iconic 2000s pop song “On the Way Down,” re-recorded with NSYNC’s Joey Fatone, Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean, Hanson’s Taylor Hanson, Drake Bell, Walk the Moon’s Nicholas Petricca, and Hot Chelle Rae’s Nash Overstreet. Listen to it below.

“I got to have a bunch of my friends whose music I love join me on a song that basically started my career,” Cabrera tells EW. “It’s weird because I still think TRL happened yesterday, but it’s super cool that I’m able to do a new spin on this song that meant so much to me.”

But Cabrera didn’t originally plan on assembling the Avengers of early-aughts pop for the milestone anniversary of his debut single, which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the TRL chart. He wanted to revamp “On the Way Down” on his own, but he struggled to do it “without losing the essence of why people loved it in the first place.”

“Finally, I just so happened to be talking to my buddy Nick from Walk the Moon, and I’m like, ‘Are you in L.A.? I’m in the studio right now, on like the 11th version of trying to figure out how to re-record ‘On the Way Down,’ if you want to come by and just lay down some stuff,'” Cabrera recalls. “So he swung by the studio and came up with this part, which is the top of the song, and it’s on the top of the choruses, and it’s very Walk the Moon.”

That riff changed everything. “I was like, ‘Dude, that’s the spark I’ve been waiting for,'” Cabrera says. “After that I was like, ‘Maybe I can get some other friends to do a part.’ I wanted to hear a song I wrote, but somebody else’s take on it.”

The roster of featured artists grew as Cabrera recorded last year. Hanson was the next recruit, and then Cabrera casually invited McLean to join the song while they were golfing together.

“After we golfed, we went straight to the studio and AJ did his Backstreet Boy thing on it,” Cabrera says. “I’ve always known that AJ can sing his ass off, but I didn’t know the extent of how crazy his vocals are until I saw him in the studio going nuts.”

Cabrera actually convinced Fatone to sign on by playing McLean’s vocals for him. “AJ and Joey toured together last year, and I got the chance to open some of the shows DJing,” he says. “But when I played this for Joey — I was like, ‘Joey, AJ did it, so now you’ve got to do it’ — he hears it and he’s like, ‘Damn, I didn’t even know he can hit the falsetto like that.'”

Cabrera loves how the track ended up totally different from the original, and he hopes fans feel the same way. “I do the first chorus, Taylor does the second verse, Drake does the second chorus, Nash is the third chorus, AJ’s just riffing, and Joey’s doing the bridge,” he says. “And then Walk the Moon is the top and the bridge. It’s a cool journey of different vocals on a song we’re celebrating 20 years later.”

Whether they’ll all ever get to perform the 2025 version live together remains to be seen — you try coordinating the schedules of a bunch of grown-up aughts legends. “That would be really tough,” Cabrera says with a laugh. “But you never know. I have some shows in L.A. coming up, so I’ll definitely hit up some of the boys, and hopefully they have enough time to come by.”

Even if he can’t get the rest of the guys to sing it with him, Cabrera plans to include “On the Way Down” on his set list for every show. “The fact that I’m not tired of it is what I’m the happiest about,” he says. “I don’t know why. It’s a song I’ve sung probably over 20,000 times, but I still enjoy every single time I get to perform it and watching people sing along. I’m also the guy who can watch the movie Hitch a hundred times and annoy my wife and everybody around me. But I love it.”

Fox23

The auditions have been submitted and narrowed down, it’s almost time for the 2025 edition of the Big Show Off benefitting the Tulsa Day Center we are joined this morning by the three returning judges from last year, Miss USA 2015, Olivia Jordan, Zac Hanson from the band Hanson and rapper, art director and executive director of the Outsiders House museum and our good friend, Danny Boy O’Conner, thank you so much for being with us.  Let’s start with you Olivia, you actually went through competition yourself, with judges before you, what do you bring in to this, as a judge, having been on the other side of it?

I think because I’ve been on stage before, as we all have, I really see that there’s an X-factor that we’re looking for, a confidence and energy that we’re looking for and honestly I feel like that is what grabs your attention first. So I’m looking for who grabs our attention, you know. I like being on the other side.

Zac, what are you looking for in terms of the talent and you know obviously lots and lots of talent up there on that stage in different categories.

Ultimately, we’re not the ones doing the voting, it’s the audience, and so for us, I think it’s just trying to add a little bit of technical know how, talking about what people are doing, what it takes to sing that way or perform that way, looking at kind of their set up and going hey guys this is the full story trying to pull a little more out so for the audience can really get a perspective on how hard it is to really do what these people are doing on stage.

And of course this benefits the Tulsa Day Center, such a fantastic organization, you’ve been involved with them so much since you’ve been in town.

It’s an incredible asset to the community and then this is their fundraiser so this is why I got involved being a judge the second year is fantastic and then we have a new judge who is the contestant last year who won, which is Joleen Brown and she’s incredible so it’s going to be interesting to see her go full circle and come on this side of the table and see what she thinks, it’s better on this side. I think she’s going to love it. The talent is great. For me, it’s the authenticity that I find here, it’s just different than Hollywood energy or New York energy, there’s just such a raw like you know we were just sitting with somebody who worked at the Chamber of Commerce who also has an album coming out and she has an incredible voice, I’m like ‘what?’ so you just walk among people who have no idea that they have real jobs but they also have this hidden talent so this thing is kind of like pulls out that talent and pulls it on front street for these contestants.

For people that want to come out and see the show, kind of set the scene, what’s the evening like for him?

It’s such a fun event. Honestly, this is a show and we’re highlighting Oklahoma’s greatest talents. So it’s a fun thing to get behind. And there’s also food, there’s drinks, there’s a great community of people coming together to server a worthy cause and I think that at the end of the day that’s why we’re all here, that’s why we show up because the day center is phenomenal. They serve almost 300 people a day, they’re open 24/7, it’s just such an important cause and that’s why we’re so excited about it and that’s why people will be excited to be in that crowd.

Of course, tickets are still available.

Thanks so much for being with us. This is such a great cause and such a great event.

Saturday February 1st. Tulsa Ballroom at Cox Business Center $500 for an individual ticket

Wide Open Country

Hanson- “MMMBop”

Nothing quite defines bubble gum pop quite like Hanson’s “MMMBop” does. Had people in the 90s not spent so much time relegating the kids to punchlines, people would remember them as more than one hit wonders. However, something about these children and their long blonde locks triggered the masses and kept “MMMBop” as merely inescapable for the moment and kept them from ever going much further. It’s a shame because Hanson were legitimately great.

Perhaps it’s the sourness and gray despondency that reeks from modern pop music. But something about this trio spewing scats and nonsense over DJ scratches and a pretty safe and suburban guitar is utterly infectious. Their joy is something that melts even my most cynical heart. In a world that isn’t so poisoned by irony, Hanson’s “MMMBop” is more than just a one hit wonder.