Jojo

Singer and songwriter Jojo talks new music, tour and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am on with Mario Lopez to be with Mario
Lopez joining me right now on Zoom. Multi platinum recording
artist Jojo. How you been? Jojo?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Okay, good Mario, how you been?

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm doing well. You look great, you look great?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Congrats. You dropped your brand new EP ANDNGL a couple
of weeks ago, and a lot of people are digging
the music. How's it feel to be back in the
studio again.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
It feels great. I was. I was on Broadway for
the past couple of.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Years, doing a couple of runs at Mulin Rouge, and
fun to be to be singing my you know, putting
out my new stuff, just feels like it feels great.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's been a minute.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, How did you like that Broadway run? It's a
lot of hard work.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I loved it.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I wanted to rise to the level of these performers,
like eight shows a week.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Is no joke, no exactly.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
I loved living in New York so much that I
moved there, like I'm a East Coast girl. So being
back in that felt really good, and I just I
got to really grow and after being in the game
for a long time, like I'm looking for opportunities to
expand and grow, and it really it.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Gave me that awesome where are you from?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Originally Massachusetts?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Okay, so yeah, definitely an East Coast girl. And and
the and the album is it? Uh does it have
a kind of a musical representation, a little maybe Broadway
feel to it or is it more about like your
memoir of last year or well.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, there's there's no Broadway feel to it.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
It's it's inspired by It's it's soul full, but there's
really great hooks I think on there. So it's like,
you know, it's a cross note pop R and B
type of record. Genre matters so much less than when
I started out, which is so nice, you know. And
so yeah, NGL is basically being like, I'm not gonna

(01:44):
lie about all the things that sound like they're contradictions
within me, feeling like strong and super bomb and confident
and then sometimes being.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like, oh you know what am I doing?

Speaker 3 (01:56):
And just like that, that confusion that I think lives
with the and a lot of us is something that
I write about on the CP.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well, the latest single, ready to Love. People are calling
it a throwback to nineties R and B, which is
I love personally, is that the vibe you were going for.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
I mean, I don't know that I was trying to
make a nineties R and B record necessarily, but I
love that it might make people feel that way because
there was something very special about that time where people
weren't afraid to be vulnerable to say, you know, I
love you, I.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Miss you, all these different things.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
What I love about Ready to Love is that it
talks about me arriving at that place within myself where
I was clear on who I was and what my
boundaries were, and saying, if if someone is not ready
for the things that I'm ready for, then I need
to move on.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
So absolutely, see very very wise.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Now because I got to grow, you know.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Because I remember you were signed young. It was like
twelve years old, I believe, like one of the youngest
artists to debut at number one, right, Yeah, we remember
about that time. Was it a bit of a blur or.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
It was a dream come true?

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Like I know a lot of people who started out
as children had really negative experiences because they didn't want
to be doing it, and that was the case for me.
I wanted it more than anything, you know, I loved
I loved performing and I loved getting to use this
gift that God gave me and from a very young age.
So yeah, it was a bit of a blur. But

(03:32):
in writing my memoir, which came out last year, over
the Influence, I really just gave myself the space to
even see what I remembered because.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I hadn't thought about it that much, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
And it was really cool to look back on my
twenty year career and be like, WHOA, things that confused
me or didn't make sense, Now that I'm seeing them
all laid out in black and white, I can have
compassion for my younger self even when I was a
bit of like a bit of an asshole or like
a bit of a like you know whatever, like like
the little diva or whatever.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
I can understand.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
The process too, imagine was very therapeutic. So that's very cool. Well,
congrat congratulations. I'm glad that he's still doing your thing
and kicking butt out there. Everyone. Please be sure to
check out JoJo's new EP n g L, which is
out now, and check her out on tour all spring long.
And please give my love to Randy.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I will Randy the Dog. We love him.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
He's the man. He's an all right Jojo, Thanks for
checking in.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thanks Maria Okay

Speaker 1 (04:34):
With Mario Lopez