JoJo re-records and releases her first 2 albums and leaves fans bald for Christmas

Christmas has come early ya'll and JoJo got me fucked up. Because she's re-recorded and released her first 2 studio albums.

Fans of JoJo have been constantly asking questions about the omission of her old material from streaming services, knowing deep down that it was never going to be made available because of the mess she went through back then.

In short, JoJo was signed to Blackground records, who (for the lack of a more articulate term) fucked a bitch over. They wouldn't let JoJo release new music, but also wouldn't let her out of her recording contract. So she was pretty much in limbo the whole entire time. Blackground have become notorious for their messiness. A special brand of mess which is partly why Aaliyah's material is absent from streaming services and why Toni Braxton went broke AGAIN. It's the reason why it took JoJo a whole ass decade to get a new deal via Atlantic records and release a new album.

For JoJo to have been around for around 15 years and not have her biggest hits and her first 2 albums (good ass albums by the way) unavailable on streaming platforms and out of print was a massive blow. One that she is very aware of. So a bitch found a way around it and went right on ahead and pulled a Namie Amuro. She re-recorded her debut album and its follow up The high road, and both are now available for streaming.

I just-

Unlike Namie Amuro, JoJo didn't half ass her re-recordings. It would have been nice to have had the originals for the sake of nostalgia and because, as amazing as JoJo's voice is now, some of the original versions are just plain better. Some of JoJo's original recordings were magic and no matter how good and masterful you are, you can't recapture that. And as faithful as the re-productions are, in every instance, the music on the originals do sound better. Some of the music on the re-recorded cuts sound like Karaoke versions of the original instrumentals. The lesson here? GET THE RIGHTS TO OWN YOUR MASTERS. But the effort is admirable, very much welcomed and it's great hearing JoJo take on her old material with a much more seasoned voice. JoJo is respectful of the originals and honestly doesn't change too much. But her vocals alone most certainly transform some songs. Some more than others. JoJo's voice is deeper, huskier and has a great deal of tone to it now. So on some songs it sounds almost strange due to them being catered more of her voice as it was then ("Baby it's you"), whilst on others it fits beautifully ("The happy song", "Never say goodbye") and in other cases it feels much more fitting given her being a grown ass woman now ("Breezy", "Leave (Get out)", "Too little, too late" and "Like that").

So that's me turning up to Christmas dinner with my edges looking like Cynthia from the Rugrats. Because ain't no way I can get a wig for Christmas now.

If JoJo had put out a 2018 version of her mixtape Can't take that away from me, I would not have a single edge left.

Thanks Jo.

Stream on Spotify: JoJo | The high road | Disaster | Demonstrate
Stream on Apple music / iTunes: JoJo | The high road | Disaster | Demonstrate
Stream on Google Play music: JoJo | The high road | Disaster | Demonstrate

Note (December 21, 9:58am): JoJo's re-recordings of her first 2 albums are on Spotify for some users, but don't seem to be showing for all. So try searching for them. It may be an indexing issue. But once I can see them and get links, I'll update this post.