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"Sabotage" is a song by American R&B singer-songwriter JoJo featuring American rapper CHIKA. The song marks the first original release for JoJo since signing with Warner Records and founding her own label imprint Clover Music. Sabotage was released on October 25, 2019 as the lead single from her upcoming fourth studio album. It was written by Joanna Levesque, Dan Wilson, Dylan Wiggins, Martin McKinney, Merna Bishouty, Michael Sonier and CHIKA, while production was helmed by Doc McKinney.

Musically, "Sabotage." is a soul song with Hip Hop influences. Lyrically, the song is a narrative of the process of holding yourself accountable for past and present relationships and navigating the emotional rollercoaster that is accepting your own part of a romantic relationship’s demise. The song received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, with many praising its raw and confessional commentary and hip hop infused sound. The song's accompanying music video is currently awaiting release.

Background
Following the re-recording and re-release of her first two album in 2018 through her own record label imprint Clover Music. JoJo began work on her fourth studio album shortly after, she rented an Airbnb and started writing and recording the album with some of her “favorite creative friends". "Joanna" was released on October 11, 2019 as the singers first introduction into the new album era and first original release under Clover Music. Joanna was released as a buzz single and will not appear on JoJo’s upcoming fourth studio album. The songs music video premiere was live streamed through YouTube the following day, with JoJo announcing the release of "Sabotage" at the conclusion of the videos premiere as the official lead single from her upcoming album.

"Sabotage" was officially released on October 25, 2019. In describing the song JoJo explains "A lot of people self-sabotage. I tend to do it in romantic relationships... And I think most of it roots to fear – fear of being inadequate, fear of getting hurt, fear of rejection, fear of not measuring up... This song is about asking a lot of questions, dealing with shame and embarrassment, and really just owning up to certain patterns".

Composition
"Sabotage." was written by Dan Wilson, Dylan Wiggins, Martin McKinney, Merna Bishouty, Michael Sonier, CHIKA and Joanna “JoJo” Levesque for the latter's long awaited upcoming fourth studio album. The song includes additional vocals from American rapper CHIKA, while production was handeled by Doc McKinney. The track was recorded with guidance by Ryan Gladieux in Los Angeles, California along with Evan Bradford and Omar Loya. The mixing of "Sabotage” was done by Tom Maserati with Miles Comaskey as the songs mixing engineer, while Alex Ernewin played the keyboard. The mastering was done by Dale Becker and was assisted by Hector Vega and Ryann Fretschel. JoJo served as the songs vocal producer.

Critical Reception
"Sabotage" received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, with many praising its raw and confessional commentary and hip hop infused sound. Sajae Elder from The Fader magazine called the track "similarly vulnerable", in comparison to JoJo's previously released singled "Joanna". Noah C of HotNewHipHop praised it's "dark bassline that creeps across the verses and accumulates a groove in the chorus" while also coining the song as "another soaring bop". Tyler Schmitt from Variance Magazine regarded the song as "simmering". Rania Aniftos from Billboard called the song "vulerable" and 'smooth". Madeline Roth from MTV News provided a positive review for the "soulful confessional" tune, praising the songs content as "equally raw" as the previously released "Joanna". Roth went on to praise CHIKA’s "introspective bars of her own", while concluding that "there's something beautifully old-school about 'Sabotage,' and it's refreshing to hear a pop artist really dive into honest self-awareness".

Bianca Betancourt of Teen Vogue praised the song's "refreshingly intimate lyrical direction from JoJo while not sacrificing the sultry, powerhouse vocals she’s been owning her entire career". Idolator’s Mike Wass called JoJo a "vocal queen" stating that "self-reflection is a rare commodity in popular music" and describing the song as "achingly honest". Wass went on to claim JoJo as the next Teena Marie of the 2010's calling it "wonderfully old school". In a less positive review of the song, Thomas Bleech called the song "an average at best R&B song, that croons through the verses and chorus with ease but doesn’t really succeed at stealing your attention". Praising it's lyrical content, Bleech claimed the songs problem "lies is within the production execution as it flatlines at one melody the whole way through. Then there is a feature verse from rising rapper CHIKA that feels really redundant and completely unnecessary as she doesn’t bring anything impactful to the equation". concluding that "Joanna", "ended up stealing the spotlight" as the better single choice.

Release
“FAB.” made its premiere exclusively through The Fader magazine on September 22, 2016 as the second promotional single from Mad Love. (2016). JoJo shared the single’s cover artwork on her social channels. Although never officially released as a single to radio, a digital remix EP containing 5 offical remixes of the song was released on March 5, 2017, including version by Kemist, RealOnes, DJ Braindead, Giovanny and Wixard.

Music Video
During a Facebook live Q&A JoJo announced plans to shoot visuals for another song off the album, most likely FAB. On November 29, 2016, In conjunction with the announcement of the Mad Love Tour, JoJo premiered the music video for the song on her official YouTube Channel. The music video was shot in New York on October 15, 2016 with Director Wes Temhone.

Originally shot in colour but later converted to a black-and-white visual to better convey the song. “JoJo shows all sorts of sass as she sings the anthem among the streets of New York City. And with a saucy addition from Remy Ma in the middle of the clip, there's plenty of inspiration to tell your own haters off in a short three-and-a-half-minutes”.

Live performance
On September 30, 2016, JoJo made her first televised performance of the song on MTV's newest music show "Wonderland", where she also performed albums cuts for the first time including "Fuck Apologies." and "Mad Love.". JoJo performed for various radio shows and publications including, Billboard’s Live Facebook Stream on October 14, Paper Magazine on October 15 and Perez Hilton’s "Perez TV" on October 24 among others. On November 5, 2016, she performed the song live for Revolt TV's "Revolt Sessions" music show. In promotion for the album, the song was included in the set list for JoJo's Mad Love World Tour.

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from YouTube.


 * Personnel


 * JoJo – vocals, writing, vocal production
 * CHIKA - vocals, writing
 * Dan Wilson - writing
 * Dylan Wiggins - writing
 * Martin McKinney - writing
 * Merna Bishouty - writing
 * Michael Sonier - writing
 * Tony Maserati – mixing
 * Ryan Gladieux - recording
 * Doc McKinney – producer
 * Alex Ernewin - keyboard
 * Evan Bradford - recording
 * Miles Comaskey - mixing engineer
 * Omar Loya - recording
 * Dale Becker – audio mastering
 * Hector Vega – assistant mastering
 * Ryann Fretschel - assistant mastering
 * Gita Willams – management
 * Katie Gallagher – management
 * Chris Smith – management