Disaster

Disaster is a single by JoJo that was released as a buzz single & was supposed to be on her third album.

It was written by JoJo, Gino Barletta, Mario Marchetti (who produced the song) and Marc Himmel.

In December 2018, this, Demonstrate and the albums JoJo and The High Road were all re-released on digital and streaming platforms with re-recorded vocals and slightly reworked production. This is due to Blackground Records taking JoJo's music released under the label off of digital and streaming platforms and because she wanted the music back on because her fans were asking her about it. She tried to buy the master recordings, but the CEO of Blackground Records, Barry Hankerson, refused to give her the masters

Song Background
In August of 2011, the song was announced to be the lead single from JoJo's third album (which at the time was called "Jumping Trains").

JoJo described the song as being about "a relationship, this young passionate love that takes a turn for the worst. This thing you once held in your hand just slips out of your control and turns into a disaster, but what I love about this song is that there's the sense at the end there's a whole world out there to explore, just because a relationship is over doesn't mean that your world is over. There's that light at the end of the tunnel and the song is just more aggressive than the pop records I've come out with before."

Song Composition
"Disaster" is a pop-rock ballad that is described by Gino Barletta as an "edgy power pop song" with "a huge chorus" and was backed by a drum & acoustic guitar.

According to JoJo, the song's lyrics are "basically about how sometimes you get so deep into a relationship, and it gets progressively horrifying and real disastrous, whether it be emotional abuse or another type of abuse, it's like, 'How did I end up in this storm?' So it's an emotional record, but it's definitely resilient in the end."

Video Background
The music video was directed by Benny Boom and shot on September 14, 2011 in downtown Los Angeles, California.

English actor Rafi Gavron starred as JoJo's love interest in the video. When speaking on how she picked him, JoJo stated:

"In choosing our leading man, I wanted it to be someone that was genuinely a rough-around-the-edges kinda guy. I had seen Rafi Gavron in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and thought he was a great actor and a natural choice for me. He embodied the edge and rugged sexiness that I wanted my guy to have. I wanted him to feel a bit like a bad boy from Boston, and although Rafi is from the UK, he pulled it off perfectly."

During an interview with Idolator.com, JoJo stated that she "...wanted to show young, crazy love and how passionate it can be — how you get wrapped up in it, and it’s awesome and it’s fun and sexy...This video is a little rock and roll. It’s colorful."

On October 11, 2011, she previewed the video in and interview with FuseTV where JoJo is seen performing the song with her band and close up shots of her performing the song in a warehouse type location.

On February 23, 2012, an extended version of the original video was released with additional scenes including the motorcycle stunt that was cut out from the original video and is accompanied by a remixed version of the song by DJ Kue.

Chart Performance
"Disaster" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #87 and at #38 on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, making it her first single to chart in the pop music category since 2007.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, it has since sold 160,000 downloads to date.

Critical Reception
"Disaster" received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who noted its similarities to a previous JoJo hit song "Too Little Too Late" and Jordin Sparks's 2009 song "Battlefield," but the song was also criticized for not showing any progression after a five-year hiatus.

Scott Shetler of PopCrush reviewed the song, stating:

"JoJo doesn’t appear to be jumping on the synthpop bandwagon like so many other pop stars, but the flipside of that independence is that her music doesn’t necessarily sound current. 'Disaster' has the same basic pop-rock feel of JoJo’s last big hit, 2006's 'Too Little Too Late'. We’d like to see a little more artistic growth in five years, although JoJo is still just 20 years old, so she has plenty of time to figure out where she wants to take her sound as an adult."

Katharine St. Asaph of Popdust rated the song three out of five stars, noting its similarities in composition to that of "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks' song "Battlefield." She favored "Disaster" over "Battlefield" because of JoJo's vocal dexterity on the bridge of the song.

Bradley Stern of MuuMuse rated the song 4.5 out of five stars, also noting its similarities to "Battlefield" while praising "The crashing drums, dramatic strings and triumphantly marching mega-beat" and her "growth as both a vocalist and an individual."

Live Performances
On August 19, 2011, JoJo announced that she would be joining the Joe Jonas and Jay Sean Tour where she performed the song for the entire duration of the tour.

She made her debut performance of the song at Perez Hilton's second annual VMA pre charity event "One Night In… Los Angeles" event two days before its radio debut.

On a tour stop in Philadelphia, JoJo gave a short acoustic Studio performance of the song with Q102 radio.

On September 19, 2011, she performed the song on San Francisco’s NOW! 99.7 FM studio Lounge and made her first TV performance of the song on "Good Day Dallas" on September 29, 2011.

This was her first live TV performance in almost four years. JoJo also performed "Disaster" on 93.3 music radio station studio in Florida. On October 11, 2011, she made her second TV performance of the song on KTLA LA morning show.

JoJo appeared at the 107.9 years end 2011 Jingle Ball on December 1, 2011 where she perform the song at the end of the show. Philadelphia’s Q102 hosted its annual Jingle Ball on December 7, 2011 where she performed the song.

On December 5, 2011, JoJo also performed at the K104.7 Not so Silent Night and on October 28, 2011, she performed the song on Boston's Fox News morning show.