JoJo on Her Memoir, Addiction, Dating and the Music Industry

For most of the aughts, JoJo was everywhere. After signing her first record deal in 2003, her debut single, “Leave (Get Out),” found its way onto the Billboard charts shortly after its release a year later. By 2006, she had two full-length studio albums under her belt—JoJo and The High Road, which featured her second massive hit, “Too Little Too Late”—and had already starred in two major movies, Aquamarine and RV. The singer, whose full name is Joanna Levesque, toured with Usher, performed at award shows, and appeared frequently on MTV’s Total Request Live. It’s nearly impossible to talk about 2000s pop culture without talking about JoJo.

But in the midst of her meteoric rise, Levesque’s commercial success came to a screeching halt when disputes at her label, Blackground Records, forced her into musical limbo for nearly a decade. According to Levesque, Blackground was unable to secure a distribution deal, which meant that any plans for releasing another official album with Blackground were off the table indefinitely. She was stuck in artistic purgatory—only able to release music independently—until 2013, when a successful lawsuit against Blackground allowed her to finally leave the label and sign a new deal with Atlantic Records. Her long-awaited third studio album, Mad Love, was released in 2016.

Looking back on the years she spent fighting for her career, Levesque says, “I rarely gave myself time to think or feel.” Now, the 33 year-old is making up for lost time. In her new memoir, Over the Influence, out Sept. 17, she reflects on the events of her personal and professional life with vulnerability and candor. Levesque spares no detail about the substance abuse and other unhealthy behaviors she engaged in to escape the reality of her label troubles, her experiences with addiction, and the lengths she’s gone to find herself as an adult.

“I hope that by sharing my little life so far, other people will maybe take the time to explore…