The singer notes how she can hear bits of the artists that inspired her in the sweet video
Credit: Jojo/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
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Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque appeared on The Rosie O’Donnell Show around age 10 to perform Whitney Houston’s “I Believe In You and Me”
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The singer, 35, shared video of herself reacting to the clip on Instagram
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Levesque notes how the early career moment featured hints of the singers who inspired her
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque is looking back fondly at performances from her past.
The singer, 35, shared an Instagram Reel on Tuesday, July 14, where she reacts to a video of her performance on The Rosie O’Donnell Show around 2000. The singer was just 10 years old when she performed Whitney Houston‘s “I Believe In You and Me” for the live studio audience.
In the video, JoJo explains, “You could hear all my influences here. I loved Christina Aguilera. I loved Aretha Franklin. I loved Mariah Carey. I loved Whitney.”
“I think that performance is so freaking funny and cute and sweet and we had taken the bus from Boston to New York. I think that was one of my first big times on TV, so I could feel the excitement coursing through my body because I just love the music so much. Any chance that I got to sing, I would sing.”
In the video’s caption, she wrote, “not little fetus joanna with the two butterfly clips and a small grown woman church dress and tights who had just gotten off the bonanza bus from Boston or Providence w her mother Diana who had to take off work for this sh*t so I could strut onto that soundstage and let ms Rosie O’Donnell have it okay?! I’m dying! 🙈❤️🍀”
Levesque recently caught up with PEOPLE about her surprise performance at the New York City stop of Lovato’s It’s Not That Deep Tour on Friday, April 24.
“We’ve known each other since we were kids. So she hit me up,” Levesque told PEOPLE of the Camp Rock alum, 33, at the opening night of The Lost Boys on Broadway on April 26.
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“And we’ve actually — we have a song together on one of my old albums. It’s called ‘Lonely Hearts’ and we’ve done Christmas stuff together. So, you know, we’re always like, ‘Anything you need, just let me know.’ And she’s like, ‘Are you in New York?’ And I’m like, ‘I moved here, girl,’ ” she laughed.
Levesque reflected on the opportunity to sing a duet of her song with the Disney alum, saying, “It was so fun.”
“I mean, I don’t get to sing any of my big songs with people because they’re not typically duets, but I have even more fun singing them with other people because they were a part of our childhoods,” she explained. “And so I see the excitement, you know, in people’s eyes when they’re like, ‘I grew up singing the song,’ and I’m like, ‘Me too.’ You know? It’s a nice moment.”
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