Jo Jo - 'Anything'
Strange times in the JoJo camp. Six months ago, you'd have been forgiven for assuming she was WAY over and headed for reality TV 'please love me again' hell. Then came 'Too Little, Too Late', a song which had a longer life than some family pets. So you'd think she'd be ready to back this up with something equally special, right?
Wrong!
All this song has going for it is that it is based on a sample from 'Africa', an old '80s hit by Toto (points are also deducted for not using the Toto/JoJo name thing to better effect).
JoJo's knob-twiddlers have selected a mellow passage for her to sing over, looped it, and then built a musical house of cards on top. It's not the best part of the song to nick, frankly, seeing as 'Africa' boasts a chorus which you would have to really work hard to spoil. But whatever, that's the choice they made.
Sadly the song which they've put together on top isn't really...anything. There's not much in the way of memorable tuneage, attempts are made to separate verse from chorus with added harmonies and stuff, but all you're ever really left with is the fact that it's that song which samples 'Africa' by Toto, and a vague wish to go and listen to the original, cos that chorus really is something.
There's a really famous bitchy quote the writer Truman Capote once gave about the work of Jack Kerouac (famous for writing train-of-thought travel novel 'On The Road', which a lot of you EngLit students will already know). Tired of the endless acclaim Kerouac's tumbling word-shower was getting, Capote cut him down to size with a barbed "that's not writing, it's typing".
I only mention this because that's the essential problem going on here. It's not a song, it's just singing. Little bit more creative work next time, perhaps?
Hear it at
Download: Out now
CD Released: May 7th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
awww that was a bad review :'( Anything is a great song and one of my faves on the album. defo top 10!! and its racing up the iTunes chart
Gotta love that quote.
wow.your mean i love jojo and this sog, so bite my rear :)
this girl is the female lil chris, u just CANT take them seriously. at the age of, what, 13 she was singing about relationships. at that age youve experieced nothing so whats there to sing about?! people are growing up way too fast these days and 'jojo' really isnt helping...and im sorry, but that name makes me chuckle...one of my dogs in called jojo! (not after her obviously)
You have got this all wrong. This is most probably one of her best songs to be released. It has already entered the top 40 without even having a video, yet alone been released. So you know what you can do.
[Invest in earplugs until the ordeal is over? - Fraser]
LOL. Nice one Fraser :P
by the way.. how much time EXACTLY is a short time.. *tries to send comment AGAIN*
[About THIS long. OK? - Fraser]
"Just have a little patiiieeeence!"
While I'm here.. Kerri, totally right about the kids singing about being in love thing. Although I find it quite amusing when the adults who are moping over a break-up are listening to kiddies singing break-up songs.
I really don't see where they were going with this one at all. 'Young, fresh songstress who we flog mostly on her youngness and freshness etc.' and 'lazy sample from extremely famous and brilliant but not exactly en vogue old song' ...not to mention that, as you say, where the original of 'Africa' is a very complete, very memorable song, this just sounds like a very pathetic and cheap bit of vocal gymnastics fitting badly over an inappropriate hook.
I don't know, obviously it is some people's cup of tea but I don't really see why or how. It is mystifying what will get approved for release and what won't.
Well, this song is beatiful. JoJo is a very good singer. Terrible review, its a nice fun summer song. I do however love the ToTo - Afrika original.
BUT... my girl Amy Winehouse is the best!! Raw British talent. she brings me back to the good old days when music was real honey.
Much Love
Pat (And her cats)
x
Jojo is HOT so therefore all her songs are hot to! take that Fraser!