JoJo Explains Why Anxiety No Longer Holds 'Authority' over Her: 'I Have More Tools in My Belt' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

JoJo attends the 2024 Billboard Women in Music at YouTube Theater on March 6, 2024 in Inglewood.Photo:Amy Sussman/Getty

Amy Sussman/Getty

Life may have its ups and downs, butJoJois ready to take them all in stride.

After writing throughmental health strugglesfor her latest project, 2021’sTrying Not to Think About It, the R&B-pop singer opened up to PEOPLE about how she’s learned to manage her anxiety atBillboardWomen in Music 2024 in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“I was in this blue space. It was like my version of singing the blues, you know? Depression and anxiety and not being able to get out of your mind,” JoJo, 33, tells PEOPLE of the 2021 body of work. “I knew, though, that I wasn’t the only person feeling that way.”

JoJo attends the 2024 Billboard Women in Music at YouTube Theater on March 6, 2024 in Inglewood.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Trying Not to Think About Itfound the “Too Little Too Late” performer musing on a difficult period of feeling mentally stuck, frustrated and generally low through songs like “Feel Alright,” “Spiral SZN” and “Worst (I Assume).”

Since releasing the project, she’s continuously worked on her relationship with mental health. “I have more tools in my belt than I did before. That being said, sometimes life is gonna life on your ass,” says the “Leave (Get Out)” musician. “But that being said, it doesn’t have authority over my life.”

JoJo attends the 2024 Billboard Women in Music at YouTube Theater on March 6, 2024 in Inglewood.Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty

Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty

“Sometimes I’ve just got to ride the waves and accept that different days will feel different ways,” continues JoJo, who plans to release new material sometime this year. “I’m excited for the music that I put out next to not be from that blue place [and come] from a place of more celebration and dreaming of what the future is.”

Last year, ahead of her Broadway debut asSatine inMoulin Rouge! The Musical, JoJo told PEOPLE she was in the process of writing a memoir about her life — and she’s still in the thick of putting its pages together now.

JoJo attends the 2024 Billboard Women in Music at YouTube Theater on March 6, 2024 in Inglewood.Amy Sussman/Getty

“I’ve been working on it for two years, and that’s what I’m most excited about,” she explained of the book, before teasing the sound of her upcoming music: “More energy. I wanted something I could put on, go jogging to, bop around in the car and also do, like, high knees and stuff.”

At theBillboardWomen in Music event, JoJo presented Victoria Monét with the rising star award. The full ceremony will stream live viathe publication’s websiteon Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.

source: people.com