BIG news for the teen pop queen that should have been: According to Buzzfeed, singer JoJo has finally been let out of her contract with Blackground Records, after a 7-year dispute involving Blackground's failure to promote and release her third studio album even after it had been completed — in fact, according to JoJo, when she submitted the album to the label, they would just never contact her. As a result, it's been a long time since we've had any new music from JoJo, as she hasn't been able to break the 7-year contract she signed with Blackground until now.
The singer broke the news on her Instagram with a screencap of an article celebrating her new record label, Atlantic Records, along with the caption: "#FREEDJOJO @absatlantic Superb lawyering @DJD& litigation team #letsWORK #teamjojo#yourethefuckingbest."
JoJo's 7-year battle with Blackground Records has been a lengthy one to say the least — though she was able to release her first two albums, 2004's JoJo and 2006's The High Road, through the company, her third album went unreleased as her record label struggled with distribution. As she's signed a lengthy contract with the label when she was 12, there was no way for JoJo to distribute the album any other way, so she went to work attempting to break the contract, first with a suit in 2009 filed in New York state citing a breach of contract since the label couldn't release her album. The suit was dropped when Blackground found distribution with Interscope, but the album still never saw release. Once again, JoJo sued Blackground in mid-2013 with the same charge, as well as the fact that they never paid producers and other people she worked with on the album. Additionally, she alleged that they'd coerced her into signing an illegal contract, as New York law states minors cannot sign contracts longer than seven years — meaning her contract should have been finished in 2011.
According to the LA Times, now that she's free from Blackground Records, JoJo signed a new deal with Atlantic Records in December, and, now 23, can finally release her third album that's been in the making for years now.
Congrats, JoJo! To celebrate, how about a jam session with my personal favorite JoJo tune...
Image: translucentbrownsugar/Instagram
