JoJo Cooks Up A Jill Scott Cover In Her Own Kitchen

Idolator Staff | March 5, 2011 11:24 am

We love a pop Event-with-a-capital-E as much as the next gal or guy, but not every starlet needs a mega-budgeted video preceded by a million teases or a ponderous space odyssey intro. For her a cappella cover of Jill Scott’s “Whenever You’re Around,” train-jumper JoJo proved that less can be more, taking to YouTube with a webcam performance in her kitchen so natural, we half-expected to see her mom doing dishes in the background. Check out the do-it-yourself number right here.

Not surprisingly, JoJo’s belting here shows off the killer pipes that made her famous when she was just a tween. Now 20, the little diva sounds practically as soulful as Jill Scott herself.

“Its a dream of mine to work with Ms. Scott. She is a Queen to me,” JoJo tweeted last night. Based on what we see here, the blue songbird could easily get her wish.

But what’s most impressive here is that, in a day when so many pop stars are so heavily guarded, JoJo felt comfortable putting this out there without the need for a team of people “fixing” the way she sounds and looks. (Someone telling her to frame up so we can see the top of her head would have been welcome, but no matter.) Sure, it’s possible there was a team of hair and makeup artists, a few producers, and a publicist just off-screen, but somehow, we doubt it. We could stand to see more pop stars performing a cappella in their natural habitats.

Best of all? Even though, say, a can of Pepsi would have been right at home in the kitchen background, there isn’t a shred of product placement in sight!

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