Nick Jonas Recalls How He ‘Bombed the Audition’ for This ‘Frozen’ Character: ‘It Was Terrible’

It may have been written in the stars that Nick Jonas was destined for Disney, just not necessarily as Kristoff.

The Jonas Brothers singer ruefully recalled an audition for the role of Anna’s rugged ice-harvesting love interest in 2013’s Frozen, and by his own account, things did not go well.

Jonas told the story during the Tuesday (Aug. 18) episode of the Hey Jonas! podcast featuring Frozen stars Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad. As the trio sat in front of him, he suddenly remembered the moment he almost became their costar. Jonas revealed that he had actually auditioned for Kristoff, the character ultimately voiced by Jonathan Groff.

Jonas shared that he had showed up a little unprepared. The casting team asked what he planned to sing, only for him to admit he had no idea. Furthermore, he hadn’t brought sheet music with him, either. He tried to save face and asked the casting team to play a musical theater song, choosing something on the spot. As a result, Jonas, as he put it, “bombed the audition” and described the performance as “terrible.”

Bell’s response was appropriately blunt: “That must have been why you didn’t get it.”

Jonas agreed, though Gad couldn’t resist giving him a little boost. The Frozen star joked that Jonas had “such better chemistry with Kristen than Groff,” prompting laughs from the group.

Jonas, for his part, still made his case for the alternate universe in which he was Kristoff.

“I love Jonathan Groff,” he said, then joked that it would have been “better to cast me.”

It’s a funny what-if, especially considering just how massive Frozen became. The film’s soundtrack spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while “Let It Go,” performed by Idina Menzel, became one of the movie’s most defining musical numbers, reaching a peak of No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014.

So while Jonas didn’t end up singing his way into Arendelle, he did audition for one of Disney’s biggest musical phenomena. And his Disney story did work out pretty well, anyway.

Jonas and his brothers Joe and Kevin were recently named Disney Legends, the Walt Disney Company’s highest honor, recognizing their impact on Disney through their music and entertainment work.

The timing of the honor was significant, given the Jonas Brothers return to one of their most recognizable Disney franchises with Camp Rock 3. The brothers reprise their roles as Connect 3 in the new movie, continuing the story that helped make them Disney royalty nearly two decades ago.