Music Review: JoJo "Disaster"

JoJo

Disaster

Album: N/A
Year: 2011

       JoJo’s relationship with her boyfriend is crumbling in the overblown  “Disaster.”

           A speculative guitar opens the single, setting a doubting tone. She has texted him several times and he hasn’t responded. At first, she figured he might be busy with work and school. She let it go. However, it happens all the time. When she is finally able to get a hold of him, she lets him know again to text her back at least sometime during the day. He nods his head and responds that he will. The next day, it’s back to the same thing all over again. Four months ago, she thought they could become a long-term couple. He would open the door for her and let her choose the music whenever they were driving somewhere. But for the last six weeks or so, he doesn’t talk to her as much. He walks ahead of her, nearly closing the door in her face. If they do drive somewhere, he’s quiet and keeps the Ipod by him. She’s tired of thinking she did something wrong. She decides to end it. (“I'm trying not to pretend/It won't happen again and again like that/I never thought it would end/Cause you got up in my head, in my head like that/And made me happy, baby, love is crazy,/So amazing, but it's changing, re-arranging/I don't think I can take anymore.”)

         In the chorus, the relationship fell apart quickly and now they are both indifferent. He’s angry with her for some unknown reason and she gives him a dirty look whenever she can. Nothing can salvage their relationship.  She tells him to get over it and they should break up. She wishes he were a gentlemen again(“'Cause the walls burned up and our love fell down/nd it turned into whatever, now we're saying never/Feel the fire 'cause it's all around/And it's burning for forever and always/You gotta let it go and be on our way/And live for another day/'Cause it ain't the same, my baby/Watch it all fall into the ground/No happy ever after, just disaster.”)

            They are both bitter. She thought she was a good girlfriend to him. She doesn’t deserve the temper tamtrum she’s getting from him, though.  She made sure she always had time for him, even switching her schedule around to match his. She’d rather move on and chalk dating him as a learning experience. (“I didn't want it this way/I only wanted to say I loved you right/But now you're walking away/And leaving me here to stay/So foolish of me to wait for you to realize/All the things I gave you, made you/Changed you, your dreams came true/When I met you, now forget you/Don't want anymore.”)

           The chorus is sung again.

    In the brige, she says he murdered her self-worth and it took her some time to get past it. She will find a new boyfriend soon. (“You shot the bullet, you shot the bullet that killed me/Not feeling my heart beat, and now I was dying./I am through it, I am through all the agony/And now my eyes are drying, trying,
No more crying/Lying's just a game/So disaster strikes/And I'm alright 'cause my love's on his way, yeah/Burning up forever and always, yeah.”)

         The chorus is sung twice.

         She says “burning up forever and always” to end the single.

       JoJo’s showy, spurious vocals are big-talking, getting out of her seat and gesturing wildly at her boyfriend. She gets right in his face and points her finger at him. Meanwhile, the audience behind her “oohs” and shouts for them to get into a fight.

      The chintzy “Disaster” is a spectacle best left for the daytime talk shows.