Today, GRAMMY Award-winning singer songwriter JoJo releases her capsule project, Trying Not To Think About It via Clover Music/Warner Records.
The 12-track EP is a musical expression of her continued honesty, vulnerability and transparency around mental health, tackling the different shades of it – including anxiety, depression, negative thoughts, relationship self-sabotage, and emotional immaturity.
Along with the EP release, JoJo will unveil the music video for new single “Anxiety (Burlinda’s Theme)” in which she masterfully compares her internal battle with anxiety to the cycle of an abusive relationship.
The title of the track is a nod to the name JoJo has assigned to her anxiety and negative thoughts.
“Somewhere over the years I became someone who wore all my fears and anxieties and hang ups and negative self-beliefs like armor. This song is about wanting to break up with your anxiety – talking to it like it’s an abusive relationship. CUZ IT IS. It can keep you small, isolated, unhappy, afraid, unable to perform to the best of your ability and reach your potential,” JoJo has said of the song.
“Someone once told me that naming your depressed/anxious self and keeping it separate from who you really are can be helpful. So I named mine Burlinda. I haven’t conquered my anxiety, but slowly but surely… I’m learning how to work with Burlinda and let her know she is not needed and can take a fucking seat.”
The music video for “Anxiety (Burlinda’s Theme)” made its broadcast premiere on MTV Live and MTVU.
The tongue-in-cheek visual finds JoJo as the unwilling star of an advertisement for “Tryesta®,” mimicking the often-ridiculous tropes of mental health medication ads on television.
The video also features cameos from Omarion and Lauren Jauregui.
JoJo also appears as the inaugural digital cover star for VeryWell Mind’s October The Breakout Issue where she discusses Trying Not To Think About It along with physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
In tandem with the cover feature, JoJo’s episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast with therapist, best-selling author, and Verywell Mind Editor-In-Chief Amy Morin, where listeners can hear JoJo candidly discuss her personal experiences with mental health.
Last week, JoJo appeared on Global Citizen Live at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, where she spoke up on the impending threats of climate before presenting Demi Lovato’s performance of “Anyone.”
Global Citizen Live raised more than $1.1 billion to tackle the climate and hunger crises.
In August, JoJo released her first single off the Trying Not To Think About It, “The Worst (I Assume)” – its accompanying music video was directed by Alfredo Flores and shot in one continuous take to bring the song’s emotion to life through performance.
The video concludes with a heartfelt note from JoJo. It has amassed over a million views to date.
In May 2020, JoJo’s fourth studio album good to know debuted at #1 on the Billboard R&B Albums Chart and earned widespread global acclaim from Vulture, TIME, Variety, NYLON, NPR, The FADER, and more, with Associated Press proclaiming “good to know is more than good. It’s grand.”
Listen to Trying Not To Think About It here and find the project’s tracklist reveal here.
