JoJo has officially taken the high road. Coming out of the musical doldrums for the first time in several years with her most honest and raw collection of songs to date, it feels like she’s finally been able to let go and do exactly what she wants : to sing and share music with her fans.
‘Good To Know’ is JoJo’s fourth studio album and feels like a new beginning.
Much like child actors, where things start out promising and then fall off the rails, JoJo started out as a young singer (and a damn good one at that) and had a couple massive hits the world over.
Well-documented label issues dogged the period where she should really have been hitting her stride.
A shelved third album and an inability to release any music immobilised her career. It was officially off the rails, but not for the usual reasons.
After finally finding a way out, we got a mixed bag of an album (‘Mad Love’) and as quickly as she reappeared, she disappeared again.
Fast forward to a COVID-19-affected 2020 and ‘Good To Know’ has arrived. And it slays.
Consisting of nine extremely strong R&B-focused tracks, the body of work really speaks loudest when listened in continuum. JoJo is telling us a story here and while the album format is questioned by many these days, JoJo really focuses on this medium to get her message out.
From getting drunk and feeling the regret the next day (‘So Bad’, ‘Pedialyte’) to needing love (‘Man’, ‘Think About You’) and feeling self worth (‘Small Things’, ‘Don’t Talk Me Down’), she covers all bases here. Lyrically it’s raw and honest and I love it.
It’s a cruelly short album with only nine songs included, and after such a long wait there would be a very large repository of songs at the ready.
That being said, she’s focused on quality here and the quality is high. She sounds amazing and production is only there to enhance her voice; a rarity in this day and age of pop music if you ask me.
‘Good To Know’ is the album we’ve all been waiting for from JoJo and while it may have taken over a decade for it to reach our ears, boy was it worth the wait.
VERDICT : 4/5.
MUST LISTEN : Man, Small Things, Gold.
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