Album Review: JoJo – Mad Love.
2 min read
As the end of 2016 swiftly advances, the surprises and tricks haven’t shown any indication of relaxing. The latest shock comes from American R&B singer-songwriter JoJo. The last time we had a full album from the influential noughties mainstay was 10 years ago. Since then a lot has unfolded within the pop music industry, with just as much of a transformation occurring to JoJo herself. Mad Deluxe., in this instance, showcases her personal songwriting efforts and refined aural occupancy – a delightful and confident result in a continuing musical maturity.
Polished vocal form, sophisticated wanderings of electronically grounded instrumentals, and a broader reach that supplicates JoJo’s musical headspace is all here. Right off the bat, this is made known, with a mellow piano completion that hinges beneath a blossomed and fuller Jojo as Music. succeeds in setting the extolling tone for the series of astonishments that follow. A sustained power and heaviness blow from the Wiz Khalifa collaboration in F*** Apologies – answering to the physicalities within the complex and hearty production. Then there’s the neo-soul and blues quaking inside the mighty title track; Mad Love. Deeper synth strikes blast through in the next track as Vibe. generates into a contemporary dancehall ode to vibrations.
As each track comes and goes a greater sense of appreciation builds. There’s a tremendous helping of passion and honesty that is hard to avoid. JoJo meticulously programs her intuitions and responses to these intrinsically motivated songs all over the record. Reckless. perhaps shows these qualities better than any other track on Mad Love.. It tackles a bold and respective light, made even more potent by her ability to twist vulnerability and feeling through the crevasses in this dark and spacey slow jam.
The record is immensely pliable and fitting. Such is the irresistibility that orbits the brightness of Honesty.. This five-minute and twenty-second submerge into humble and charismatic artistry summates the glistening wonder JoJo grips throughout the record’s integrality – ultimately setting the standard for the singer-songwriter. Mad Love. is at it’s best points, the workings of a musician who lives learns and records the teachings with humble, enchanting and courageous results.
