JoJo Is Reclaiming Her Time

When JoJo first emerged in 2003, she was just 13 years old with a fully formed sound that fit nicely into pop and R&B radio markets. So when her first single “Leave (Get Out),” from her self-titled 2004 debut, came on the radio, I, like most teens I grew up with, couldn’t believe that such a big voice could belong to someone who was just of junior high school age. As an empowering kiss-off in which JoJo chants “leave!” to a good-for-nothing boy who maybe didn’t return her MASH notes in math class, the song was rendered with such conviction that it turned the former America’s Most Talented Kids hopeful into a bonafide star, seemingly overnight.

Following a classically American rags-to-riches dream, with her mother managing her career, JoJo left the one-bedroom Massachusetts apartment she was reportedly raised in, and embraced the opportunities ahead. Her song “Leave” quickly rose to top the Billboard Pop Charts — making her, at age 13, the youngest person in history to do so — and ultimately selling more than four million copies worldwide. The precocious teen later gave interviews asserting her artistic confidence and newfound fame, once saying, “When I sing ‘Leave (Get Out),’ I have been through that. I think it is just a new generation, whether people are ready for it or not. Teenagers are dating. They go through things and that is really what it is about.”

She quickly followed up her whirlwind success with a breezy second single, “Baby It’s You,” a Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards performance, and a high-profile opening slot on Usher’s Truth tour in support of his 2004 album Confessions. Then her second album, The High Road, arrived in 2006, with an even catchier, more emotive lead single than her debut. “Too Little Too Late,” a R&B-and-pop power ballad, was, like “Leave,” similarly about JoJo’s refusal to reconcile with an ex who left her wounded. Though it was slower to sell, “Too Little Too Late” surpassed the commercial success of “Leave” by charting internationally. The attention led JoJo, who had acted in smaller TV productions, to star in her first feature-length role alongside a young Emma Roberts in 2006’s mermaid-inspired teen comedy, Aquamarine.

But while riding high as her sophomore album sold more than half a million copies, this is where things get a little fuzzy. When she was writing and recording her third album, JoJo’s label, Blackground Records (the former label owned by the late Aaliyah’s uncle, Barry Hankerson) became embroiled in a messy legal dispute with the singer that would last years, as she sought release from her record contract. The proceedings would lead to demo leaks, numerous album delays, and a removal of her first two albums from streaming platforms. At one juncture, JoJo filed a suit in 2013 against Blackground and its subsidiary, Da Family, citing “irreparable damages to her professional career.” Since she signed her deal in 2004 in New York, when she was a minor, JoJo noted that New York State Law prevents minors from signing contracts that last more than seven years. The suit reached a settlement between both parties, Blackground was eventually sold and is now defunct, and JoJo, who never stopped singing, released covers, one-off singles, and a raw mixtape in the middle of all this. But when she was finally free from her label, JoJo unleashed in 2016 what ultimately became her third studio album, Mad Love, on Atlantic Records.

And since then, JoJo has been working to reclaim the music that made her famous. Over the holidays last year, she released newly re-recorded and reproduced versions of her first two albums after teasing snippets on social media. The recordings present a 28-year-old JoJo singing her early hits with the hard-earned wisdom she first projected at 13, but has now more wholly experienced. She knows her music and presence represents what so much music did in the early aughts: nostalgia for a simpler time, capturing the bittersweet joys of being young and in love.

And despite the winding road that has been JoJo’s music career thus far, she’s showing no signs of slowing down. When PAPER caught up with the star songstress, we learned that she’s re-released the nostalgic tunes on her own label imprint of Warner Brothers, Clover Music, and is also preparing more new, original music this year. Having been through what sounds like the worst and come out indestructible, JoJo is honest but understandably cautious, influential, and ready for what’s next. But this time, she’s calling the shots.

What was it like to have such an early taste of success at age 13?

I hadn’t even been kissed. I remember when casting the music video for “Baby It’s You,” which was my second single, that’s when I’d literally hit puberty, that’s when I became a woman. I was literally a little girl, it’s crazy. I thought I was so grown when I was 12 and 13, but looking back on it, there’s just no way to really know how special and unique an experience it is, being so young and being exposed to so much.

“I was embarrassed by my age because there was nobody who was 13 who was on the scene at the time.”

The mainstream music industry definitely has a preoccupation with youth that makes it hard for young girls to navigate.

Youth is exciting, of course. People see potential in youth and try to build on that. And trying new things is exciting, especially when you’re young. But an interesting little tidbit from when I first came out is that we weren’t leading with my age — at least, not in the beginning. I was embarrassed by my age because there was nobody who was 13 who was on the scene at the time. So I wanted to lie and say I was 16, I wanted to feel like I was more grown. I hated being the youngest. I wanted to be with the cool, older kids. But in hindsight, I think that’s such a regular middle school thought like, I’m going to lie about my age on my AIM account, or anywhere else. I actually did that in person and online.

What are some early lessons you learned back then?

The biggest thing is that people will throw around the word “love,” and I think I learned early on that there’s a difference between people in the industry saying, “I love you like family” versus what your real family and actual close friends tell you. It was hurtful for me to learn that difference, though, but it was something I had to learn the hard way. Back then, it was just me and my mom, and I learned a lot personally and professionally pretty fast, but I think that was because I didn’t really have other people around me who had been though a similar thing. I didn’t really know who to look towards. I didn’t come from a family of successful people, let alone singers. So I didn’t really know what we were doing, we were kind of just making it up as we went along. The word love gets thrown around with little meaning — like, I remember the first time a boy said that to me, and I actually believed it.

Did you eventually find mentors or people who truly had your best interests at heart?

At that age, I really didn’t want to listen to my mom, just to use her as an example. My mom was managing me and my career. We came from really humble beginnings and I think I didn’t really have mentorship until a few years into my teens, where I had people step in that I respect and I looked up to. But even then, it was still a lot of me learning as I went along. My [current] manager is somebody who has helped guide me and give me advice in the industry for such a long time, she’s been in my life since I was 13, and we started working closely together when I was 17.

“I was born a fighter.”

Knowing what you know now, what might you tell young JoJo?

I would say to her, “You’re going to go through some shit, and you’re going to be OK.” That’s what I would say. “You’re going to have to learn to be patient.” I’m an only child and I think that having fame that young definitely does something to you where there is a level of just not understanding the word “no,” because no one is telling you “no.” I find that question to be really hard because I don’t know that I would have listened to advice at 13 when I just put out my single and I thought I knew everything. I felt so confident at 13 — I don’t know if you did — and it comes at different times for different people. I think I was probably the most not-giving-a-fuck probably at 12 when I was just singing. The thing I would say is, “Never lose that confidence, that fire.” I was born a fighter, and at some point things will beat you down, and you feel like you don’t have that in you anymore, at least that’s what happened for me. So I would just encourage her to not lose that scrappiness.

Having your dreams come true at a young age could make anyone feel like they had everything figured out.

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JoJo Is Reclaiming Her Time

“I was embarrassed by my age because there was nobody who was 13 who was on the scene at the time.”

“I was born a fighter.”

Having your dreams come true at a young age could make anyone feel like they had everything figured out.

“We should always be centering the voices of women who are brave enough to come forward.”