JoJo remembered feeling out of place while hanging out with Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez during a low point in her career.
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The singer made the revelation in her memoir, “Over the Influence.” In the book, she reflects on her life and career, including her inability to release music during a battle with her former record label Blackground Records.
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JoJo, 33, signed a seven-album record deal with the label at 12. Between 2004 and 2006, she released a series of hits, including “Leave (Get Out),” “Too Little Too Late,” and “Baby It’s You.” But her career hit a snag after the label lost distribution, which left her unable to release music. After suing Blackground, she was finally freed from her contract in 2014.
In an excerpt obtained by People, JoJo writes about befriending Selena Gomez during that time and joining her for a party held by Gomez’s best friend, Taylor Swift.
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“Francia Raisa introduced me to Selena Gomez and we all started hanging,” JoJo remembered.
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“Sel came to a few of my studio sessions, and I swung by hers to hang out or write together. It was honestly a breath of fresh air to be around someone who had started in this industry at such a young age, just like me, and was still so down to earth and open.”
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At times, JoJo said she “felt the occasional twinge of pain or jealousy” because of the opposing status of their careers, but at the same time, Gomez’s “overwhelming” level of fame made her “grateful” for her “relative anonymity.”
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“She couldn’t go anywhere without security flanking her and fans mobbing her at every corner,” JoJo wrote. “It just seemed like there was no sense of freedom for her to explore the world and be wherever and whoever she wanted to be. I imagined that must be suffocating.”
One day, Gomez invited JoJo to Swift’s house for a Galentine’s Day celebration. There, “Taylor had this arts and crafts section set up where we took pictures of ourselves and slapped them on this cute questionnaire where we described our best qualities (and our worst ones), the things we were looking for in a guy, and the reasons why we were currently single.”
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JoJo said she “genuinely enjoyed” hanging out with them, noting that they bonded over their shared experience of being child stars.
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“Taylor was so sweet and complimentary, and she seemed excited that Selena had brought me along with her,” JoJo shared.
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“She mentioned deepcut songs of mine she loved and kept saying how fucked up the lawsuit was, the fact that I couldn’t put out music. I don’t remember if she already knew what was going on from social media or if I’d told her about the situation, but she was — in no uncertain terms — letting me know she was on my side and believed in me.”
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Although JoJo appreciated the sentiment, she also kind of felt pity. She wrote, “I appreciated Taylor’s kind words, but I thought I could see in the eyes of everyone else at the party that they felt bad for me.”
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“Maybe they thought I was never going to get out of this limbo. Or that it was too late for me even if I did. Maybe they could tell I didn’t have the money or the parents who could help dig me out of any holes I might find myself in. Maybe they saw the imposter in my eyes. Then again, perhaps that was all my own projection.”
You can read more of the excerpt here and get Over the Influence when it hits shelves on Sept. 17.
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