For Joanna Levesque, who performs as JoJo, the freedom of her new album was over 15 years in the making.
JoJo was just 13 years old when her song “Leave (Get Out)” hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts in 2004. At the time, she was the youngest artist ever to hold that spot. “Too Little Too Late,” the lead single for her second album, made it even further to No. 3 on the Hot 100, and in 2008, JoJo promised fans on her Myspace page that her third album would arrive in time for her 18th birthday.
The album never came. In 2013, JoJo sued her label, Blackground Records and Da Family Records, and was released from her contract the following year. In 2018, she re-recorded and re-released her first two albums, JoJo (2004) and The High Road (2006), after they had been previously removed from streaming services. (Taylor Swift, who likewise doesn’t own her masters, has stated she’ll make a similar move in November.)
