JoJo opened up in a new interview on Monday (May 4) about the support she received from none other than Taylor Swift during her years-long battle with her former record label.
“A few years ago, Taylor had me over her house, actually. She was just like, ‘I can’t believe everything you’re going through. This is so f–ked up, so wrong, blah, blah, blah,'” the pop star dished to People. “And of course, she couldn’t have ever known that she would go through something similar where her catalog was bought from her.”
For years after her mid-2000s breakout at age 14 with hits like “Leave (Get Out)” and “Too Little Too Late,” JoJo found herself stuck in a painful musical limbo, engaged in a lawsuit with the record label she’d signed with as a child star, Blackground Records, unable to release any new music and her catalog of work scrubbed from streaming services.
While the vocal powerhouse eventually reached a settlement with the label — even rerecording and surprise releasing new versions of 2004’s JoJo and 2006’s The High Road in December 2018 — Swift later found herself in a battle with Scooter Braun and her former label, Big Machine Records, over control of the master recordings of her entire back catalog after signing a new deal with Universal Music Group late that same year.
“But our situations were actually quite different,” JoJo added, comparing her experience with Swift’s. “I was literally being completely silenced. Taylor is in a different position in her career. I was really sidelined, and it was pretty hurtful. I don’t think that her career is suffering because of whatever happened. They’re still available on streaming services; that’s the difference.
“I’m on the side of these women,” the singer continued. “But, at the end of the day, the situation between her and Scooter is vastly different than what I was going through with Blackground. To be honest, I don’t have any problem with Scooter Braun. I think he’s a really smart man — but it does suck to feel like you are not in control of your own shit.”
With her label drama behind her, JoJo is currently celebrating the release of her brand-new fourth studio set, Good to Know, which features lead single “Man” as well as standout tracks like “Lonely Hearts,” “So Bad” and the Tory Lanez and 30 Roc-assisted “Comeback.”
