US pop star JoJo has been left pleasantly surprised by Australian fans.
The former child star, 35, was performing alongside the likes of Dom Dolla, Kid Cudi and Addison Rae at the recent Beyond The Valley festival in Victoria.
And it seems the Leave (Get Out) hitmaker is quite fond of one uniquely Australian festival accessory.
One concertgoer uploaded a clip of JoJo’s set to TikTok which showed her taking a break between songs to address the crowd.
The clip showed many audience members holding up ‘doof sticks’ – tall decorated poles that feature signs or memes.
Originating from Australian ‘bush doof’ culture, the sticks are also often used to locate friends in large crowds.
US pop star JoJo has been left pleasantly surprised by Australian concertgoers and their love of ‘doof sticks’
As the camera panned across a sea of people, a raft of elaborately decorated sticks, including Smurf, Pepsi, and umbrella creations, were visible.
Speaking to the crowd, JoJo admitted she had never seen such a thing before.
‘I’ve never played a festival where I’ve seen these sticks – these are amazing,’ she said.
Pointing out a stick that featured Shrek in a bikini, JoJo joked that she could see a resemblance to herself.
‘I feel like this is me. I feel like this busty Shrek stick,’ she laughed.
JoJo, whose real name is Joanna Noëlle Levesque, became the youngest star to have a song peak at the top of the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart – at the age of just 13.
The talented songstress released two more albums and was poised for stardom – with her second studio album The High Road spawning her first top-five Hot 100 hit with Too Little Too Late.
But her career ground to a halt when she became embroiled in a seven-year contract dispute with her label Blackground Records, who she signed with at age 12.
One concertgoer uploaded a clip of JoJo’s set to TikTok which showed her taking a break between songs to address the crowd
‘I’ve never played a festival where I’ve seen these sticks – these are amazing,’ she said on stage
During the bitter legal battle, the Too Little Too Late singer claimed she was being held hostage by the label because she was not allowed to leave or release new music commercially.
The feud led to her fans taking up a #FreeJoJo campaign on social media at the time.
JoJo went on to win the legal fight in 2013, was eventually released from her contract and signed with Atlantic Records in January 2014.
However, in 2017, JoJo proved she was still affected from the situation, as she tweeted: ‘My former label removed my music, I unfortunately have absolutely no control over what they do or don’t do…I want to let bygones be bygones. I pray one day they put my music back up.’
That year, the singer revealed she had turned to alcohol during low points in her life as she battled with her self image.
The singer told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I’ve had many low points, honestly. I thought, ‘How can I come back from this, you know, too much time has passed?
‘I was depressed, I was drinking a lot because I wanted to get out of my mind. I’m being totally honest … I just wanted to feel good and get out of my mind and that was obviously trying to fill a hole that I had.’
JoJo, whose real name is Joanna Noëlle Levesque, became the youngest star to have a song peak at the top of the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart – at the age of just 13
In 2020 she revealed how fellow pop star Taylor Swift had supported her amid her own battle with her old label.
‘A few years ago, Taylor had me over her house, actually,’ JoJo told People magazine.
‘She was just like, “I can’t believe everything you’re going through. This is so f****d up, so wrong, blah, blah, blah.”
‘Of course, she couldn’t have ever known that she would go through something similar where her catalog was bought from her.’
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