Random J Pop special edition: JoJo - The In-between

With JoJo having re-released her first 2 albums, me being hyped about it and throwing it back to "Leave (Get out)", I'mma continue the JoJo appreciation campaign here at Random J Pop. Seeing as we've been looking back at JoJo's official material, it only seems right that we put a spotlight on some of her unreleased material too. Because it's fire.

Whilst JoJo was in limbo she recorded a slew of tracks. Many that we've been fortunate enough to hear and many that we have not and probably never will. JoJo has been very vocal about what she went through with her previous label and that she'd submitted multiple incarnations and versions of a third studio album, just to have it sat on and shelved each time. And if some of these unreleased tracks are anything to go by, then we really fucking missed out and her label played itself.

Now, I originally posted these songs WAAAAAY back. But the link is dead and some JoJo fans or JoJo curious peeps may have have missed it. So let's go for it again.

I call it The in-between for the sole reason of when these songs were recorded and how JoJo must have felt at the time. Plus the majority of these songs are about being a relationship where you've go tone foot in and one foot out, so it just fits.

There are more unreleased JoJo tracks than these. But this selection are my faves of the bunch, sequenced in a way in which I think makes for a nice album.

I've also included a couple of songs from her 2010 mixtape Can't Take That Away From Me. Just to be clear before the "BUT HOW COME YOU DIDN'T INCLUDE-" comments start. My not including certain songs from the mixtape was not because I didn't like them. I based my selections on what fit the running order and theme of the songs as a whole. I love the shit out of "Pretty please", but it just didn't fit here.

Imagine recording this fire and your label not wanting to put it out. I can't even.

📀 Download it: JoJo - The In-between

1. Running on empty
2. The other chick
3. Can't take that away from me
4. Impossible to love
5. How you did it
6. I hate love
7. Lie to me
8. Keep forgetting (To forget about you)
9. Sexy to me
10. In the dark
11. Before we take it there
12. Wait a minute (For your love)
13. Fly away

JoJo has already begun work on her forth studio album, the follow up to her 2016 release Mad love. Fresh off of the release of the re-records of her first 2 albums, a picture surfaced of JoJo the studio with Bryan Michael Cox, notable for his work alongside Jermaine Dupri for the likes of Mariah Carey and Usher. With solo credits which include Danity Kane, Amerie, Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland. Now, there are no official liner notes or production credits for all of these unreleased songs, but I am more than certain that Bryan Michael Cox was involved in a couple of these. "Before we take it there" sounds like his signature style, as does "I hate love". So, if this is the case, then we can expect him to give JoJo the goods for her Mad love follow-up. Providing a bitch doesn't run into label issues AGAIN. I mean, Atlantic records. Chile. The way they've done Brandy.

Edit (February 2nd, 2019 - 1:15am): Correction. JoJo is no longer signed to Atlantic records.