Anyone who thinks 33 years old is too young to write a memoir should buy a copy of Joanna “JoJo” Levesque’s Beyond Influence. The singer-songwriter has been through a lot since releasing her debut single “Get Out” 20 years ago. When Levesque decided to spend more than 300 pages detailing all of her thoughts, she even surprised herself with her candor.
“Humans are built to share, connect and build relationships, and I realized how many stories I had hidden inside me, how many stories I had kept secret for so long out of fear or shame,” he told Askew. “I will not name names or use pseudonyms so as not to seem vulgar, but will still share my truth. However, I have only seen the first draft…”
For those who grew up in the early 2000s (when Levesque first started writing), the book is full of nostalgia. She detailed how she didn’t want “Get Away” to be her first single, and called the hit “Disney Channel bullshit.” She also revealed that she had a bad experience with an unknown pop diva (who may or may not have been Christina A*ulera) when she co-hosted Total Request Live.
Likewise, Levesque examines her complicated relationship with her parents and her struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. Reading about the various personal and professional obstacles she’s faced — her former record label preventing her from releasing any new music for over a decade, her father’s death from an opioid overdose, one romantic betrayal after another — it’s clear that Levesque feels she’s still lucky. This memoir, as well as her stunning new single “Porcelain,” are a testament to her remarkable resilience and refusal to let anyone dictate how she uses her unique voice.
“It was really comforting and necessary to revisit those devastating moments I had splitting up. I didn’t realize how hard I was trying to avoid those feelings,” Levesque recalled. “Almost all of my fears, insecurities, and shortcomings are now gone, so they don’t have any power anymore.”
To celebrate the release of Over the Influence, Levesque performed on Broadway in Moulin Rouge! He took six days off from work to play the lead role in the musical, visited six bookstores across the country and shared some exclusive photos from his trip with Eskom.
