Quarantine has been a busy time for JoJo, with new music and an exciting collaboration with Demi Lovato. Speaking with 360aproko, the songstress dished on working with the pop icon after years of friendship and mutual respect.
“She is so supportive and so, so sweet,” JoJo told Katie Krause during a recent virtual sit-down. “Her and Sam Smith were talking about how much they loved my new album… they did like, this joint interview, and they were both talking about it, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that is so sweet!'”
JoJo said she texted Lovato after hearing her kind words about her album Good to Know, which came out on May 1, and they went back and forth talking about their latest music.
“I think she told me that ‘Lonely Hearts’ was one of her favorites, and I was like, ‘Why don’t you get on it?’ And she was like, ‘OK.’ So really it was like that. And we were able to make it happen.”
JoJo explained that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they recorded their parts of the remix in separate places, but she was in awe of Lovato’s work on the track.
“She absolutely destroyed it. She killed it,” JoJo marveled. “It’s just amazing. I’m so excited that she took the song and elevated it.”
“We’ve known each other for such a long time, and I have a lot of respect for her,” she added of the “I Love Me” singer. “I think we both feel a connection with each other.”
The remix of “Lonely Hearts,” featuring Lovato, will be released Aug. 28 as part of the Good to Know deluxe edition.
According to JoJo, she feels the song spoke to them because they can both “relate to the lyrics.”
“We’ve both been there before… and for me it’s very applicable right now,” JoJo said. “Just feeling like, you know, I’m good at being alone and I don’t wanna be heartbroken, and if I’m alone, I know I can’t get heartbroken. So that’s what it’s about.”
Lovato — who recently got engaged to boyfriend Max Ehrich — has frequently been vocal about her feelings of loneliness and her relationships over the years. And as for JoJo, the singer revealed that she was recently “in a bit of a situationship” amid quarantine, but it came to an end.
“I’m single,” JoJo shared, adding that she needs “to start writing about it so I can process it.”
Another song that will feature on JoJo’s upcoming Good to Know deluxe edition is her new single “What U Need,” which drops Friday, Aug. 7.
The song comes out just in time for the upcoming My Friend’s Place Summer Festival, a virtual music and art fest that JoJo is performing in. The event will benefit the My Friend’s Place organization, which seeks to help those impacted by homelessness in Los Angeles.
“The issue of homelessness is one of the biggest that our city faces. And it’s particularly heartbreaking to me to see young people experiencing it. And I just know that any one of us is just one circumstance, one degree away from that being us,” JoJo shared. “The issue of homelessness is truly life or death.”
“So My Friend’s Place is making a serious difference here in Los Angeles with not only providing hope and creative outlets for these young people from ages of 12 to 25, but also actual substantial help with housing and food and education and childcare and job opportunities,” she added, “and giving them the tools to create their own path forward.”
In regard to what she’ll be performing as part of the festival’s kickoff event — Standing Together: A Virtual Concert — JoJo shared, “A couple of my favorite songs from my new album and [I’ll be] just baring my soul, like I always try to do.”
My Friend’s Place Summer Festival kicks off with the virtual concert on Sunday, Aug. 9 at 5 p.m. Check here for more info on how to stream the event. The festival runs from Aug. 9 to 13.
