Mary Chrysler! JoJo Re-Recorded Her Debut Album, Including ‘Get Out (Leave)’

In all the excitement around Christmas and the preparations that the season entails, you may have missed some important news. But I am here now to bring you tidings of comfort and JoJo. The early 2000s pop singer has re-recorded her entire debut album JoJo, including the hit single ‘Leave (Get Out)’, and released them for free on streaming services.

Released in 2004, JoJo went platinum in the US, while ‘Leave (Get Out)’ peaked at number two on the ARIA Charts. The certified bop featured a 13-year-old JoJo kicking a lying, waste of time boyfriend to the curb with all the wisdom and strength of a woman twice her age. It was a song that filled a slew of young girls with empowering fire, despite the fact that most of us had never had a boyfriend.

Unfortunately, JoJo’s album is unavailable on streaming services due to her now-defunct former record label, Blackground Records. After fighting a long legal battle in which she alleged that Blackground Records failed to release her third album or pay her collaborators, JoJo was finally released from the record label in 2014. However, she still does not own the rights to her previous recordings, so it was up to Blackground Records to distribute them — or not.

Fans hoping to hear the ’00s classic who don’t already own the CD have been forced to resort to YouTube uploads from the community, a sad state of affairs that JoJo is all too aware of. While she can’t release the original 2004 album herself, the 28-year-old singer has done the next best thing, re-recording every song and putting them online. It doesn’t sound exactly like tunes you may remember blasting from your CD player, but it’s still gratifying finally being able to add ‘Leave (Get Out)’ to my Spotify nostalgia playlist.