Oh, just JoJo and me talking about music while in an embrace on a couch. NO BIGGIE. (JK, huge biggie.)
As far as I'm concerned, JoJo's a hero and national treasure. She's an absurdly talented singer-songwriter, and her latest mixtape, Agápe, still remains one of the most well-curated yet curiously overlooked releases of the past year. If you're not still obsessed with Jojo's moody "Andre," the sultry "We Get By," and the half-recorded yet still UTTELRY MOVING "Thinking Out Loud," then you're doing everything wrong. And honestly, I'm still down to talk about "Disaster," "Demonstrate" and "Too Little Too Late" even years later too. Why? Once a hit, ALWAYS A HIT.
This past Monday Jojo figuratively took me to CHURCH when she literally performed at an olde-tymey townhouse in the West Village, because that's how Fader does it. JoJo took the stage at Alger House in Manhattan’s West Village and performed a mix of songs from her first two albums (um, "Boy Without A Heart" was so perfect sung that it nearly ended me, but fortunately THAT VOICE resurrected me, so it's all good), her Agápe mixtape, and a cover of Sade's "Sweetest Taboo" so hot it could probably fry some bacon and heat up a pot of coffee if you asked it nicely.
And she wasn't alone -- JoJo invited L.A. rapper Casey Veggiesand Toronto’s Francesco up for a few songs as well. And I even got sit down on a mortal couch with the supreme being known as Joanna Noëlle Blagden Levesque, and I'm here to bring that gospel to the JoJo-Stanning masses.
Now, obviously if you've read this far you haven't wanted to "LEAVE" or "GET OUT" because that'd just be "WEAK" (see what I did there?) since you're clearly a JoJo Stan, too. And sure, even though I was dying to questions like "How the HELL do you get your eye-liner to do that?" and "Can I meet your mother, just so I can thank her?," I stuck to more topical themes like JoJo's favorite moment from Sunday night's VMAs, her favorite Justin Timberlake song, what song she'd like to cover next, and -- most importantly -- when she's getting back in the studio. And then, by some grace of god, JoJo and I decided to have a snuggle fest on the couch (yep, it was as amazing as it looks), and talk about juice cleanses. Which, aside from maybe JoJo and finding me a nice boyfriend, is my favorite topic.
+ Check out Buzzworthy's interview with JoJo --- VMAs, Justin Timberlake, juicing and more! -- after the jump!
BUZZWORTHY: First of all, amazing performance tonight. Second of all, did you watch the VMAs?
JoJo: I was actually in rehearsal for this show until 1 a.m., but I did watch a couple clips online. I loved Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars' performance. They were both really inspiring.
JoJo: Ohh, this is a toughie. I really like "Señorita." It just feels so good when it comes on and [breaking into song], "Ain't no body love you like I love you." I'm a JT fan all the way. How could you not be?
BUZZWORTHY: As a hardcore JoJo Stan, this is more of a personal question, but tell me why you initially only released half of "Thinking Out Loud" on Agápe?
JoJo: Cause I'm such a friggin' weirdo! And an insecure artist at times. I didn't put it out because I didn't know if i loved it, and once I realized that people loved the short version, then I was like maybe they'll like the long version, so I'm gonna end up putting out the studio version. I don't know why I get so introverted about my personal work sometimes, but it was just a song that I'd written about a personal situation I was going through, and I'm thankful that other people felt the way I felt. I felt like -- are these lyrics too personal? Will people relate to it?
BUZZWORTHY: Speaking of meeting a guy at a farmer's market, I live right by the farmer's market, and it's a great place to look at cute boys!
JoJo: I live by the farmer's market too! It is a great place to meet boys. You know they're health conscious, and they probably have decent bods!
BUZZWORTHY: I totally agree. Organic veggies all the way. Now, more importantly, any plans to release a new mixtape while you wait for your legal issues to be sorted out?
JoJo: Honestly, I'm praying for a speedy result. I'm confident in the case and what my litigators have done, so I'm hoping that the next thing I put out will be an album. I don't want there to be a lot of lag time in between. But, in the meantime, I'm just working on myself, writing, just fine-tuning myself. I'm still gonna be in the studio, but I'm not sure if I'll put out a body of work until the third album. But lots of live performances! I really wanna be an all around live entertainer, so I just want to continue to cultivate that.
JoJo: Oh, there are SO many covers I wanna do. I mean, listen, any time Drake comes out with a song, I honestly wanna do a version of it because I so identify with what he sings about. I really respect his artistry. But, after Marvin's Room, I was like 'damn, I'm probably not gonna do another one. I don't wanna be the girl who does Drake covers all the time.' But I'm such a huge fan. I also really love Kendrick's stuff, maybe "B*tch Don't Kill My Vibe." I would've loved to have done a cover of that.
