What's all the fuss about JoJo: two new movies. One new CD. It may not sound like a lot, but we have the very strange feeling JoJo is about to earn her one-name status.

With the exception of rappers, it takes a special person to be on a first-name basis with the world. No debate, membership in the single-name club is the most chill-Madonna, Beyonce, Usher. Granted, JoJo's not on the same level as Madonna, but the girl is 15. Let's give her a sec to catch up with the megastars ... and maybe get her driver's permit.

MAKING MOVES

As she sits to chat with GL, JoJo has been flying from coast to coast, doing her best to get through the demanding publicity schedule that goes with having two movies out back to back. After her first CD JoJo kicked butt--who doesn't have "Leave (Get Out)" on their playlist?--JoJo turned to film.

First up is Aquamarine, a mermaid-out-of-water tale in theaters now. JoJo and Unfabulous's fab Emma Roberts are cast as best friends who find a finned Sara Paxton (Summerland's blonde bad-girl) in a swimming pool. "Sara was so sweet-the character she plays on Summerland, the witch or whatever--she is so not like that. And Emma has her own little style," recalls JoJo. "We filmed in Australia. The three of us hung out all the time--at the beach, at the mall, bicycle riding. It was so awesome."

Right on the heels of Aquamarine, she dives into the big leagues late April with RV, a comedy about a dad (played by the legendary Robin Williams) who decides his family needs the kind of bonding you can only get by camping for two weeks. In other words, cue the obnoxiously friendly ram at the next camp, the exploding sewage tank and the recreational vehicle with a mind of its own.

The venture into acting has become an expected part of the popstar path (hello, Hilary, Lindsay, Mandy, Jessica), but when JoJo talks about making movies, she shows a refreshingly sincere respect and gratitude for having worked with the likes of Williams.

"I had a remarkably great time on RV," she says. "I mean, I did a movie with Robin Williams. He gets in there and starts being all comedic, and it's just like, barn! Two seconds later they yell, 'Cut,' and you can talk to him about anything. Literally, you can talk to Robin Williams about politics, sports, fashion, and he'll know everything."

As much as JoJo enjoyed Aquamarine, you can tell RV has a special place in her heart. "I can't wait for everyone to see it. I'm proud of the work I did; I'm proud of the work everyone did. I am proud of the relationships you see onscreen. I'm proud of the whole thing!"

SERIOUS SONGSTRESS 

JoJo will confess to anyone that when she was supposed to be studying math in school, she was writing songs in her notebook. No big surprise, then, that while she's promoting her movies, she's also hard at work crafting songs for her second album, due out this summer.

And it's talk of this album that transforms JoJo from the girl you see on TRL to an adult-ish performer with serious goals. "The vocals are stronger; the material is better. I'm working with dope people. I have a song called 'If I Wrote A Note To God'--it's deep. Everything is taken to the next level. It's very classy."

So is it quits on the acting career after two films? "Acting is good, and I think actresses have a longer shelf life," she says after some thought. "But I don't want to do all the things everybody else does, the reality shows and products. I'm passionate about spending my life doing music."

SHE'S THAT KIND OF GIRL

Even with her successes over the last two years, JoJo's more down to earth than one might expect. "I have a pretty normal life. I live in the town I grew up in, I see my family every day, I walk my little cousin to the bus stop," she says as she takes a chompy bite of a chicken club. "I don't feel famous."

While part of JoJo may have trouble absorbing the fact that she's a celebrity, another part has a self-possessed confidence when asked about her talents and ambitions. "I'm not fooling myself--I know I'm good at what I do," she says, putting the sandwich down for a second. "I could sit here and be like, 'Oh, I don't know if I am good at this,' but I know because I worked at it. I was always strong, opinionated, determined. And I was always like, 'If people aren't going to do this for me, I'm gonna do it myself.'" And, ahem, that was when she was 8.

After performing in countless talent shows, JoJo got her break on America's Most Talented Kids. She lost to American Idol's Diana DeGarmo but scored a recording contract. By the time she was 12, she'd put the finishing touches on her debut album JoJo and, at 14, she was the opening act for the European leg of Usher's tour. It's only proof of her intense ambition that, as far as JoJo is concerned, this is all just Chapter One in the JoJo Rules the World book.

And, no kidding, she still can't believe it when she's at the mall and her video comes on the monitors. "I was just at Wet Seal and I heard the beginning'--duh duh duh--and I was like, 'Oh, my god!'" Hello, JoJo? Fame called. It wants you to relax and get in the limo now.

But JoJo scrunches her nose at the idea of bigger fame: "I think about the word 'fame' and, for me, it's not glamorous anymore. It's like, yeah, you're staying at the Four Seasons, but people are fake toward you. The red carpet is a scary place. When my album came out, I was only 13. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it was just ... frightening."

RAGS TO RICHES

JoJo was born Joanna Noelle Levesque in Foxborough, Mass., a small town near Boston. Unlike lucky gene-pool upstarts like Ashlee Simpson, JoJo-as-celeb was a long shot. She grew up poor. She had love and she had music, but that's about it. She and her mom lived in a rundown, one-bedroom apartment. JoJo's mother cleaned houses for a living. When JoJo dreamt about her future, those dreams included things like just being able to go out to eat. Expensive jeans, pink rhinestone flip-phones, pocket cash--those were things other girls had, but not JoJo.

Lucky for her, singing doesn't cost money. But growing up without luxuries is what gave her the intense desire to change her lifestyle. "We always had a roof over our heads, and we were never without food. But there were also paint chips falling into my cereal and, yes, I'll say it, it did kinda suck. I just always thought, 'This can't be all there is. This can't be what life is all about."

Growing up poor doesn't affect her present reality--she's not blinging out on ice and bragging about what kind of car she's going to be cruising in when she turns 16. But her childhood poverty went a long way toward giving JoJo a steely reserve: "I definitely don't want to go back to that," she says without embarrassment. "Now that I have a taste of success, I don't want to feel like a failure. I cannot go backward. Not that I'm too good to go back. I choose not to. I'll do what I can to not go back to that."

While the money may not have changed her, it has sadly changed how others perceive her. "People in my hometown think I think I'm too good for them now. That makes me so sad because I'm not like that. I go to Target--I got these boots there," she says, pointing down at her black heels. "I go to Panera. I go to the local nail salon, and I get my hair done at the same place I've been getting my hair done forever. I don't think I'm better than anybody."

BETTER THAN (EYE) CANDY

JoJo is already different from many of the celebrated popstars because--drum-roll, please--she actually can sing.

How weird is it that innate vocal talent is a rarity in music? Kelly Clarkson can sing. So can Christina Aguilera. And Mariah Carey. That's the company in which JoJo belongs. These are babes with pipes, and JoJo is serious about never lip-synching or faking it in any way. "The feeling of being onstage--I take that feeling to heart," she says. "Those girls who lip-synch and stuff? That must be horrible. I feel confident and comfortable with myself."

And, clearly, her confidence, sometimes even more than her voice, is her lottery ticket. "I know the feeling of not feeling good enough. But when you compare yourself to other people, there's going to be people who are better at something or seem prettier or more successful. You can still be your best self"

Being her best self is how she met her soccer-star boyfriend. Ever heard of Freddy Adu? He's 18 and considered the Tiger Woods of soccer. He was born in Ghana, Africa, and came to America as a toddler. On MTV, he looked at the camera and said that he wanted to ask JoJo out if she were single. "I was hosting Fake ID Club in Australia, and I watched his tape and thought, 'He's full of it!' But I was intrigued, so we talked on the phone for three months. I finally met him when he came to play in Massachusetts. He took me out the day before his game. We've been going out for more than eight months now."

Jojo says she loves him and he loves her. "We like to drive around in his car. I just love to cruise with him. We fight about the stereo. He tikes 50 Cent, and I want to turn it on real music, like Stevie Wonder and things like that. We go to little Chinese restaurants, and we go to Wendy's--just random places. We are so low-key, it's ridiculous."

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

JoJo loves her normal girliness, like in the sweater she wore to our interview. She bought it at a cheesy airport boutique but makes it look like high fashion. The pop-star perks JoJo gets excited about are so sweet--like having her hair and makeup professionally done or being given hot new clothes. Things any girl would react to with baby claps.

It's true that JoJo never wants to be a "normal" teen in some ways--normal teens can't support their families--but she also never wants to be one of those celebrities who can't even pick out a good melon at the grocery store. "I buy Evian water--I love water and drink it all the time--and blue potato chips! They're blue from a blue potato. I like taquitos; they're mad good. And Swedish Fish. And pizza Lunchables. I just ate one like three nights ago with my friends, and they were like, 'What are you doing!' and I was like, 'Eating pizza Lunchables, dude. Get off me.'"

Before parting ways, we ask her a sort of dumb question: Did she think she was a hottie in the baggy clothes from the old videos? "I thought I was really fly," she says, sounding very JoJo cool. "I think the more comfortable you get with your body, the more your style changes. Now, I love heels, tight jeans, frilly tops, dresses--to be feminine. That's the difference two years makes."

And what will the next two years--or even two months--bring? In a few years, maybe Beyonce-like fame. In a few decades, perhaps Madonna-level. JoJo's here, and she's a part of your iPod, your MTV and your movie-going experience. There are many ways to describe this inspired new girl on the teen block, but we don't need a lot of words to do it. We just need a name: JoJo.

Photographed by Dean Foreman