Before telling us to "Get Out" in 2004, JoJo was smitten with Nicole Kidman in 2001's Moulin Rouge! More than two decades later, she made her Broadway debut playing Kidman's Satine. "I was Broadway's first red-haired Satine," the 32-year-old star tells Bustle, sitting in New York City's empty Al Hirschfeld Theater. "I wanted Nicole to see my little self floating around like a little leprechaun in a red wig on stage."
JoJo first saw the jukebox musical in Los Angeles and hinted to producers that she would love to play Satine, who sings hits by Beyoncé, Marilyn Monroe and other celebrities. A few months later, she moved across the country and took over the role of Sparkling Diamond. "She was a beautiful, dazzling thing for people to see, but there was a lot of pressure to form that diamond," Jojo said. "I can relate to how you feel when you have nothing to fall back on and you only have yourself and others to answer to. She's been living on the streets and selling herself since she was 13. In a sense, I've been there since I was 13 These streets work in their own way.”
The platinum-selling singer-songwriter shot to fame at age 13 with "Leave (Get Out)" and "Too Little, Too Late." Considering her years-long fight to break away from her former record label, JoJo resonated with Satine in her final moments, declaring: "You don't own me." "I had tears in my eyes," she recalled. "That's what makes moments like this even sweeter. Just as I did all those years ago, when it came to fighting for the right to my own voice, I very much embraced the concept of 'no one owns me.'"
View on Instagram
JoJo says her Broadway adventure could influence her next album; when she's not performing, she's writing her memoir. "This is not a ghostwriting type of situation," she said. "I'm telling stories that I haven't told myself my entire life and really putting them all out there so I can move on and create the next chapter, whatever I want."
She thinks her teenage self would have been proud of herself. "JoJo, 13, is so confident and has a sense of self and belief in herself that she'll say, 'Yeah, that sounds like it's on time,'" she said. “She would be so excited to be on stage singing all these great songs.”
Below, JoJo reveals the song she'll be adding to Moulin Rouge! , the legends she delivered in her locker room, and what she really thinks about The Masked Singer .
About The Masked Singer and the songs she added to Moulin Rouge!
What has been your favorite song to perform so far?
I loved doing "Crazy Rolling," which is a mashup of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and Adele's "Rolling In The Deep." It was a really fun moment on the show...and then Katy Perry's "Fireworks" was a real moment for Satine because she was completely exposed. She realized she was really sick, and that there was probably more going on with her than just a scratchy throat. The way the performances were performed in this show gave a whole new life to lyrics that I had never heard in this way before. I make it my own personal motto.
If you had to incorporate one of your songs into this musical, which one do you think would fit the story best?
One of the songs from my Good to Know album, "Pedialyte," fits here because Christian drank absinthe and really screwed up, and then had a lot of regrets the next day. I feel like the lyrics are very similar to, [ sings ] "Life is an occasion, party 'til the sun rises again. Who's going to be my savior when I wake up? Explain my actions. I swear, I'll never drink again "I think it works.
If you had to choose one song by a different artist to add, which one would you want to add?
I feel like Sam Smith and Kim Petras' "Unholy" works really well in this show. This show is just a carnal pleasure and hedonism...you look at the set and it's like being in a beating heart, in your body. It’s just sex, romance and glamour. I think this will be very effective.
View on Instagram
As part of your pre-show ritual, do you listen to some music to cheer you up?
I listen to a running playlist while I do my makeup backstage, which includes a bunch of dance music I've never heard before. One of my favorites is Pretty Girl [Lucara]...it's a hit and I just think it's cute. I'm wearing a wig and I'm wearing makeup. I am turning the red marks on my face into beauty marks and entering the age of beauty.
What are your favorite karaoke songs?
Michael Bolton's "How Should I Live Without You" and I did that on "The Masked Singer." This is indeed karaoke, just with heavy costumes.
On who will play JoJo in the musical and the "heroine" in her dressing room
What songs would you like played at weddings and funerals?
It depends on who I end up marrying and what our song is. I will cliché and say that "Your Song" (sung by Elton John) in this show is a perfect fit. I also love “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel. And then the funeral? "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.
Who would you like to play you in the musical of your life?
OMG. I don't know if I know that person. It's not that they don't exist. I'm sure they will.
I thought you would speak for yourself, honestly.
In fact, it's there. This is the answer. This is me.
Is there an instrument you wish you could play?
I want my piano playing to be so good that I can accompany myself. In fact, being able to play bass would also be a hit because it looks cool. I just love being a sassy bitch and [doing] just deep nodding. Maybe just a one-woman band. I want to play everything.
Who is your current music idol?
I’m listening to a lot of Barbra Streisand right now. Her range positioning is excellent and her control of her voice is excellent. Barbra and Celine [Dion] are my inspirations now. In my dressing room I have pictures of my favorite leading ladies: Mariah (Carey), Whitney (Houston), Celine, Barbara, and pictures of famous prostitutes over the years.
View on Instagram
Is there a song you never want to play live again?
Some of my fans really enjoy keeping my unreleased songs alive, and I'm very grateful. I have a song called "Limbo," which is the hardest song I've ever recorded in my life, and when people ask me to sing it, I'm like, "If I try to get myself into trouble, I'm going to die 's" through sound. ” I was trying to put it on my Leaks, Covers and Mixtapes tour, and I was like, “I can’t do this live. “It’s not that I can’t sing, it’s that I put too much pressure on myself to sing.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
