Joanna “JoJo” Levesque is what we at Cosmo like to call a triple threat. The star is a chart-topping, Grammy-award-winning, platinum-selling recording artist who acts in film, TV, and on the stage, the latter of which she’s doing once again by reprising her role as Satine in the musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre for a limited 12-week engagement. And if that weren’t impressive enough, she also recently wrote a book—Over the Influence: A Memoir is being released by Hachette Books on September 17, 2024, and JoJo wrote every word herself. (That’s right: NO GHOSTWRITERS HERE!)
In case you’ve been living under a rock, let me catch you up. When JoJo was only 13 years old, she dropped her self-titled debut album and the hit song “Leave (Get Out)” made her the youngest-ever solo artist to have a debut number-one single in the U.S. In short: She’s an icon. So seeing her live onstage and preordering a copy of her memoir is a must. (Shoppable link below!)
We sat down with JoJo (and her 13-year-old puppy, Agape) in her Broadway dressing room to discuss this exciting moment in her two-decade-long career. And yes, she’s just as cool as you’d imagine.
You’re currently back on Broadway as Satine in Moulin Rouge! The Musical for the second time. What made you want to return?
I really fell in love with getting to do the same thing over and over again. And there are so many variables that make it feel different. Every audience, every cast member, every stagehand, the weather each day, and even your headspace each day or where you’re at in your life can affect a performance. So I wanted to see what changed after a year had passed. And when the offer came in and I heard that Aaron Tveit was also returning, it felt like divine timing. Because I wanted to be really busy before releasing my book. I didn’t want to freak myself out with too much time on my hands. This just really felt like the perfect thing to fill me with joy while also distracting me from how scared I am about my book coming out.
The variable thing is so real! Weather is a huge one. Coming to the theater on a clear sunny day vs. a rainy overcast day affects not only you but also the audience who has to make their way to their seats. Do you have any preshow rituals to help get your head in the game and ground you before each performance, regardless of the things you have no control over?
I do! I listen to music. It depends on how I’m feeling, but for Satine, I sometimes like to listen to opera. It just feels like something she would have been listening to before one of her shows. I don’t really know what people were listening to in the 1890s. [laughs] But I like to think it was something a bit more classical. Lately, I’ve been listening to Maria Callas. I’m really inspired by her voice. And I do my own makeup.
Oh! You do it yourself? Love that!
Yes! [laughs] And I love that ritual. I take my time with it. I get to the theater two hours before the show. They like for us to start putting the wig on 30 minutes before the show starts, but I personally like to have at least an hour to myself each night…
To just exist in your drag!
Correct. [laughs] That’s right! I like to have my own little moment.
Last year, you played opposite Derek Klena in the role of Christian. But this time you’re paired with Aaron Tveit, who originated (and won a Tony for!) the part in 2019. Has the change in romantic lead affected your performance at all?
I’ve only done this with those two leading men but have also worked with great swings and understudies. And it does change! Because alchemy is real. So whatever I bring to the equation mixes with whatever the other person brings each night, and then we create something different together. It’s exciting to find how I relate to Christian this time. Aaron is the OG, so he was able to share a lot of insight behind his intentions with the role and what was set forth when he was workshopping it before the show opened. I find that really interesting, because I’m such an information-minded person. I love as much context as I can get so that I can store it somewhere in me, then try and forget it so I can organically react from a knowing place. I would say that Derek played it a little younger.
Speaking of younger: You were a theater kid whose first paid job was in A Midsummer’s Night Dream at the Huntington Theater in Boston…
You are too good! Oh my goodness… [laughs]
…and then you busted onto the scene with a pop recording career as a teen. What’s it like combining those two very different backgrounds in a high-octane jukebox musical like this?
It’s like an orgasm! [laughs] It’s, like, so exciting! It really is. It’s thrilling for me, because I love pop. I came up in that scene, but it’s interesting because I’m only just now learning how to sing with proper technique. I picked up a lot of bad habits and didn’t have technique growing up. And I used to be proud of that, but I realized over the past few years that it was actually a handicap. I’m in a season of my life where I really just want to grow, and being in this show is a really natural way for me to do that. And it’s fun! These are songs that we all know and love. But it’s still exciting. Like, I never thought of the song “Firework” to be an emotional song, for example. I also viewed it as this fist-pumping anthem. But now it makes me emotional.
Which of the show’s numbers is your favorite to perform?
I’d say “Rolling in the Deep.” Satine and Christian are at opposite ends of the stage. They’re both having very dramatic moments and singing these lyrics with different intentions from different places. And I just love hearing Aaron sing his harmonies from way over there. It’s very satisfying to find a nice blend.
Do you have your sights set on any other Broadway shows?
I do! But… [covers mouth]
Okay! Lips are sealed. Moving on… [laughs] You recently wrote a book, which is coming out during this limited engagement on Broadway! Why now?
It’s been 20 years since my first album came out. Realizing I have a career as a recording artist that spans 20 years struck me as that anniversary was approaching. I’m 33, so I started thinking about this three years ago.
Pre-order her memoir here!
Turning 30 is also a pretty significant time in a person’s life. A lot of things were transpiring and I felt like I was entering a new chapter, so I started to think about my life in 100 stories. That’s the template that I started with. So I wrote out 100 stories, along with a few paragraphs of standout anecdotes that I thought were interesting, and then shopped it around. I was like, I don’t know if I’m gonna be good at this. But I wanted to make sense of what the fuck happened in my life. I spent so much of my 20s and teens in utter confusion and in so much pain. There was so much turmoil and feelings of being alone. I remember always feeling so “other.” And I realized that I’ve felt that way from a very young age. But then I came into this theater community and was like, Oh, wait…I’m a theater kid. I feel not so weird anymore. So yeah, a lot has transpired, and I want to share some of my hard-learned truths about this life so far.
There’s a disclaimer that you wrote every single word. Why was it important for you to not work with a ghostwriter like so many other celebrities do?
I was scared. I was scared that working with a ghostwriter could turn out the way certain singles and albums have for me. I’ve said yes to songs that just don’t sound like me. And I’m fine with other people writing songs and me singing them, just not when it just doesn’t sound like me. I felt that in order for this project to connect with a readership in any type of real way, I had to take a chance on myself. I spent a lot of my life thinking that everybody else knew better than me, but I’ve earned my place to speak, and that’s beautiful. I have something to share, and I want to be the one to share it. Particularly with the fans who have been with me from the very beginning who might be confused about certain things as they pertain to my career.
Like that bizarre episode of MTV Cribs?
[laughs] What the fuck was that!? [laughs] That didn’t make the memoir for some reason.
That’s okay. It will live rent-free in my mind forever! [laughs] So what was your writing process like? Do you find that it’s easy to remember things?
I’ve learned to give myself time and grace to remember. I take the time and ask people who were there what their vantage point was. With this book I got to walk down memory lane with family and friends and colleagues and peers, which was nice. But I’ve also been keeping a journal since 2005, so I have, like, 30 journals that I looked through. I circled shit and was like, I’ve been dealing with a spirit of addiction and insecurity for as long as I can remember. So when am I gonna stop this? What’s gonna be the shift? The journals helped with remembering. And I just take my computer everywhere with me. I was writing on trains, on planes, at restaurants and cafés, at Airbnbs and just wherever I could carve out a moment.
You also recorded it as an audiobook. Which format would you recommend to your fans?
Definitely the audiobook. I love listening to audiobooks. Especially if the author is reading it. I loved Matthew McConaughey’s book. Mariah Carey did her own and she has such a beautiful speaking voice and does some singing and stuff. I definitely took a page out of her book, so I think it’ll be a good listen. Hopefully! I haven’t heard it yet. But I did record it!
Broadway. A Book. Any plans for new music?
After I did my run of Moulin Rouge last year, I immediately went into the studio. I was so energized. I loved living in New York. I was dating at the time, I was on an app, and I was feeling my single-dom. I was like, “THIS IS A NEW ME!” I felt like I was living my Sex in the City fantasy, and that energy inspired this new project, which I will be putting out soon. I want to release a song around the release of the book. I really want to create a world. But if I can’t do it that way, I’m gonna hold off until I can.
Lastly, with the resurgence of Aquamarine’s popularity now that the film is available to stream on Hulu, I have to ask: Any plans to grace the silver screen again?
I would love to! I would absolutely love to. But right now, my heart is in theater. I’m learning and growing here and nurturing my inner child somehow. But it would absolutely be a dream to do more movies and play different kinds of roles. This was incredibly exciting, but Baz Luhrmann actually saw the show and came into my room and gave me a hug and had wonderful things to say. And he’s on my vision board. Working with him is absolutely the dream.
And now you have a tether!!
Next time I see him I’m gunna be like, “Remember me? You liked my Satine.”
“...now write a movie for her!”
Exactly.
JoJo’s return to ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ coincides with the production’s fifth anniversary. October 13 is her final performance, so get your tickets now before it’s too late!
