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Over The Influence
By: Joanna “JoJo” Levesque
Publication Date: September 17, 2024
Published By: Hachette Books
352 pages
Find It On: Amazon | Goodreads
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“You don’t always need to hit rock bottom to know that you need a reset – if for nothing else than your own sanity”
Jojo took the world by storm with her songs Leave (Get Out) and Too Little Too Late, but then she seemed to disappear. We didn’t hear much for her for a long time. So what happened? That’s basically what this book explains.
We get a little bit of background of her growing up as a kid and her family dynamic, but this book mostly focuses on her career. And it should! She’s been in the business since she was a kid. Her music career took off when she was just 12/13 years old. I had always wondered what happened to her and her music. She fought so many battles in her career. From being in a contract that it took her forever to get out of, not being able to be who she wanted to be and make the music she wanted to make, to her representation. She hasn’t had it easy. It almost feels like she peaked at 12/13 years old, and some may see it that way. But Jojo never gave up. She keeps holding on, moving on, and clawing herself out of situations.
One of the aspects that I really liked about this book is how REAL she is. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything. She is very introspective and honest about her shortcomings, her mistakes, the things she went through, the choices that she made, and how that all effected the direction that her life and career took. The way that she struggled with addiction, her self esteem, her binge eating, the way that she cared about how others saw her.. it was so easy to relate to her, even not being someone famous. Reading this book felt like talking to a friend.
I learned things about her that I never knew! I had no idea that she ever appeared on Broadway, and then to learn she did 5 months in Moulin Rouge as Satine was really fun!
This was a great read. If you ever listed to her music and wanted to know what went on behind the scenes, pick up this book. It’s a great one to read for Non-Fiction November!
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