On the 10th anniversary of JoJo's sophomore album, The High Road, the singer’s most highly anticipated material has finally arrived. But in order to fully understand JoJo’s new record, Mad Love, we should first talk a little about her important past.
At the young age of 13, JoJo signed a recording contract with label Blackground Records. Within that same year, JoJo released her debut album which sold 95,000 copies in its first week. As of today, that album has gone platinum and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Her first single from that album, “Leave (Get Out)” went gold in the US and platinum in Australia. Two years after making her first album, she released The High Road, which sold 108,000 copies in its first week outselling its predecessor. This album then went on to sell 3 million copies and is certified gold.
After much critical acclaim as a young teenager, JoJo’s record label stopped promoting her music for seven years. She describes in numerous interviews that her label declined promoting her work because she refused to buy into the “sex sells” strategy. For her musical freedom, in 2014, JoJo and her attorneys sued Blackground. JoJo alleged as a key factor that they refused to release her third album.
As the lawsuit waged on, JoJo’s fans supported her endlessly on social media with the hashtag, #FreeJoJo. During an interview with The Huffington Post in 2015, JoJo said about her public feud against her label: “I was kind of messed up from it, and I’m still repairing myself from that…It was hurtful and confusing. It’s helped me realize that you just have to keep pushing forward and it made me realize that I don’t do this for money and I don’t do this for the fame, I do this because I really love it. If I was doing it for those reasons, then I’m not doing it right. I love this. It made me realize that I love music more than I hate the industry.”
What makes JoJo unique is not just her incredibly soulful voice, but her determination to express herself freely and succeed without having to fit in.
“AFTER MUCH CRITICAL ACCLAIM AS A YOUNG POP STAR, JOJO’S RECORD LABEL STOPPED PROMOTING HER MUSIC FOR SEVEN YEARS”
Having spent most of her savings to sue her old label, JoJo was finally freed from her contract. Mad Love, her 3rd album, is a testament to one’s own resilience. After having been bottled up for ten years, singer-songwriter, JoJo is ready to show the world that she has fought to be able to perform in her own way. The record itself is a rebirth. This JoJo does not allow others to control her voice and that is ever so present within the album’s vibrant choruses.
“THE RECORD ITSELF IS A REBIRTH”
In her lead single, “F*** Apologies”, JoJo teams up with Wiz Khalifa to meld pop and R&B in a new and distinct way. Wiz Khalifa raps (“I ain’t apologizing for shit. I do what I want, and JoJo does too, uh,”) expressing support as a friend. The track isn’t just another familiar radio song about a breakup, it's a song about JoJo’s own journey and new found confidence.
In an act of complete defiance, JoJo sings unapologetically and that is the central theme of the album. On the track named – “FAB.” – JoJo features her favorite female rapper, Remy Ma. Both artists use music as an outlet to express their difficult personal experiences with friends and betrayal. JoJo plays around with the abbreviation of fabulous, to her it it is actually an acronym for “Fake A** B******”. JoJo and Remy Ma together are able to create an upbeat, “I Don’t Care” pop anthem that makes you want to dance and forget those who don’t like you.
Two of the album’s most stand out tracks are “I Am” and “Music”. Both songs show JoJo soaring to newer heights compared to her material in terms of vocals and metaphors. I first heard the song “I Am” on YouTube. JoJo performed it with the PS22 Chorus, an elementary school chorus, she admired. Together, in the video, they sing (I am, I am, I am, I am, worthy of love / Am I, am I, am I, am I, strong enough? / Because it feels like I’m not anything at all / But I am, I am, I am, I am beautiful”.) In singing these words of affirmations with these young students, it’s easy to see JoJo’s true message: empowerment and self-love.
For JoJo, music is a language that connects us all. To the students she collaborated with, they look up to her as a role model. If I had to pick one track for someone who isn’t familiar with JoJo to hear first from the album, I’d choose, “I Can Only” featuring her close friend, Alessia Cara. The track’s lyrics show JoJo at her best, as one of our generation’s most skilled female artists.
JoJo is a role model that uses her songs as a way to uplift people from various different cultures. “Music” is by far the most beautiful ballad on the album because JoJo cathartically sings about her father’s passing. She belts every emotion of the song with a colorful, resonant voice that moves you. With powerful lyrics such as these from JoJo (“Everyone's scared, everyone's scarred / Everyone spends some nights alone / But every high, every low / You never left me on my own”), the ballad, like many of the album’s other notable treasures show JoJo within her element: complete creative control.
“FOR JOJO, MUSIC IS A LANGUAGE THAT CONNECTS US ALL”
Mad Love represents a fresh beginning. An artist’s reinvention of self. Having signed with Atlantic Records, JoJo is free to write music from her own experiences because the label unconditionally supports her creativity and vision. Thus, her latest album is a reflection of her past and better yet brighter future. In Mad Love, JoJo makes an impression. The album is for free on YouTube but can also be purchased on her website as well.
