#Jojo the high road delux edition update#

While a breezy Cali-cool guitar haunts the robo-R&B of вЂњSmall ThingвЂќ and its smoldering melodic twists, the Lido-produced вЂњThink About YouвЂќ finds the singer relying on her own tripled-up voice in harmony with itself as a guide to the highest form of plastic soul. Musically and vocally, however, sheвЂ™s got the formula down cold. OK, so JoJo can still use help in the lyrical department. So, too, is вЂњMan,вЂќ with its handsome Latin guitar licks and her call for вЂњa f-ing man / Someone to want me like a fanвЂ¦ / He ride for me like he a stan.вЂќ But the see-sawing tango of вЂњComeback,вЂќ with rude guest stars Tory Lanez and 30 Roc, is positively X-rated. The Noise Club-produced вЂњGold,вЂќ with its typewriter-esque percussion and detuned melody (imagine a warped 45 of The StylisticsвЂ™ вЂњYou Make Me Feel Brand NewвЂќ), finds the flurries of multi-tracked JoJo in a metaphorical mood when comparing sex with divinity. The producer and co-writer of several hits by Chance the Rapper and Halsey brings JoJoвЂ™s multi-tracked harmonics some subtly unusual twists, injecting her heavenly sound with more of the heat and tension her ribald lyrics already provide.ДЄnd she does get racy. When she gets to the mid-tempo вЂњPedialyte,вЂќ JoJo welcomes one of the albumвЂ™s most devout collaborators in Peder вЂњLidoвЂќ Losnegard. But JoJo is truly here to reintroduce her musical themes and summon up the gods of control and command. Look at me now.вЂќ The silken, spacy track has muted, aquatic keyboards, thud-knocking beats and a chorus of vocal FX in which she sings, in Gaga-like tones, a tale of seduction with вЂњtrench coat at the back of the bar in the shadowsвЂќ imagery.

#Jojo the high road delux edition update#

In a weird way, from its cultured chord changes and hushed emotive vocals to its clicking rhythms and orchestrated synths, вЂњGood to KnowвЂќ comes across like an update of Janet JacksonвЂ™s вЂњControlвЂќ album, especially its simmering, slow closer вЂњFunny How Time Flies (When YouвЂ™re Having Fun).вЂќДЄfter the whispery sex-love-and-drugs intro of вЂњBad Habits,вЂќ JoJo hones in on the listener with вЂњSo BadвЂќ and focuses our attention with the command, вЂњLook.

JoJo sounds right on time: SheвЂ™s grown into herself. ItвЂ™s the album where all of her tics - of rushing too many breathy rap-sung syllables into one phrase, overly dreamy production and voluminous multi-tracked harmonies - have become agreeable signatures. вЂњGood to KnowвЂќ sounds as if that same kid has healed, grown up into a 29-year-old woman with all the self-knowledge and sensuality her age and experience should portray. The old JoJo sounded good, but more like a kid with scraped knees looking for a Band-Aid rather than a woman in search of real soul or a sound to call her own. Still, tricks are for kids, and she hadnвЂ™t yet achieved the weight of conviction or a sense of self beyond being a third-rate Brandy. After вЂњThe High Road,вЂќ JoJoвЂ™s synth-phonic and singing tricks remained the same, even if her beats got rougher, her lyrics grew harder and her tastes broadened on brooding mixtapes such as вЂњAgГЎpД“вЂќ and her third full-length, вЂњMad Love.вЂќ Covering DrakeвЂ™s вЂњMarvinвЂ™s Room,вЂќ too, was a good move, an apt study in like-minded shushing vocal tics and ruminative, silken soul-hop.