JoJo

Kid stars are usually the product of a huge production company with dollar signs in their eyes. The teen market is a very lucrative one - who wouldn't want their child to be happy? Look at Britney Spears' career dwindle after evolving from a Junior High dancer to throbbing bombshell. This case, for instance, is different than Spears' - JoJo actually has talent. On her self-titled debut JoJo has a string of hits under her belt, even at the age of thirteen. JoJo hit the charts in 2004 with her pop ballad Leave (Get Out). This went on to sell many copies, and insured JoJo instant success with the teen market. Her second single Baby It's You, also did extremely well in the charts. The young singer really does have a tremendous voice. Even if the lyrics throughout are pretty interchangeable, vocally there's no doubt in her ability to carry the album, and the lack of irritating skits or attention-hogging guest shots is pretty refreshing. A clutch of quality songs, as well as the force of JoJo’s grounded, girl-next-door personality, makes this a cut above the teen competition.

The breakthrough single Leave (Get Out) is instantly catchy and smooth with R&B edges. However, it sounds a bit strange that this 13-year-old is talking about ending a relationship. Pre-pubescent issues aside, this is a solid number with a staying impact. Baby It's You carries on in Lumidee's Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh) and Nina Sky's Move Ya Body. It makes for a good dance track. Other must-listens are the strikingly handsome The Happy Song, which has a consoling affect and a bittersweet melody, and the SWV cover Weak. Although the highly melodic track does not receive that bad of a rehashing, the original was not butchered in this effort. City Lights and Breezy are also pleasing to the ears.

Few will accuse JoJo of being a musical revolutionary – hers is a streetwise, modern R&B sound that owes a lot to Destiny's Child and a little to opposite-ends-of-the-genre artists Angie Stone and Aaliyah – but there is a freshness about her. This, on mulling it over, is a quality that's hard to miss when you're 13. Those who haven't ventured beyond the radio hit "Leave (Get Out)," though, will want to take this self-titled debut for a spin if only to be among the first to discover an artist who's figured out how to effectively blend innocence with attitude. It's not the lyrics but the delivery that grabs hold and gives way to compulsory head bobbing.

Growing up on the outskirts of Boston, MA, JoJo listened and learned as her mother practiced hymns. She started singing by imitating her mother, but quickly put her own spin on everything from nursery rhymes to pop tunes. An ad in the paper announcing open auditions for the television show Kids Say the Darndest Things: On the Road in Boston lead to the young singer wowing the audience along with the show's host, Bill Cosby, and eventually led to a phone call from Oprah Winfrey offering JoJo a spot on her show. Appearances on talk shows and gospel festivals followed, but it was her appearance on the television show America's Most Talented Kids that brought the call from producer Vincent Herbert. The former Aaliyah, Toni Braxton, and Destiny's Child producer arranged sessions with famed producers like the Underdogs and Soulshock and Karlin. JoJo’s eponymous debut album followed in June 2004.