And finally, the esteemed inventor of the tringle…

[Video][Website]
[6.23]

Iain Mew: When pop-house is sleek and powerful enough to overcome its shonky chorus premise — that’s how you know it’s real good.
[8]

Micha Cavaseno: The cult of #JojoIsTheWay overran my IG and twitter feeds in the last month rather suddenly, so I knew that comeback season was soon approaching. As interesting as her dalliances with alt-R&B themes were in the “teeny bopper grows up” storyline, she didn’t produce material that felt worth the wait. Now she’s ready again, with house with a tasteful edge, and “When Love Hurts” doesn’t have any particular flaws — but at the same time, there isn’t enough of an edge to separate Jojo from the hundreds of songs in this vein other than her backstory.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Look, I’ve been Team JoJo since the beginning. But while JoJo is a great vocalist, she’s not a house vocalist, nor is she an EDM vocalist. The production ill-serves her — as well as itself, its landfill pop-house combined with 2011 Cobra Starship dance tropes coming off doubly dated.
[4]

Will Adams: JoJo swerving into dancepop for her 2015 comeback might seem predictable, but those chunky beats are not. There’s a wonderful balance between JoJo’s effort on the verses, switching between breathy and seething, and the chorus. She gives herself over to the music, allowing it to stretch her voice into the heavens.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: Pop that flirts with EDM drops and trappish, er, trappings, but never commits to either, to its benefit. Her vocal is completely empty, however, as are the lyrics. 
[4]

Jonathan Bogart: Those blocky left-hand-of-the-piano chords in the build-up to the not-a-drop are some of the most satisfying sounds I’ve heard in a pop single all year. Too bad the setting, particularly the chorus sentiment, is off-the-shelf generic.
[7]

Megan Harrington: There’s not much I believe less, as a sentiment written on paper, than “when love hurts, that’s how you know it’s real,” but when JoJo sings those words, I buy in completely. This has always been her strong suit and I think she’s only more convincing with time and age and — you pick — public label struggles or extensive vocal coaching. When she was 14, JoJo capably nailed the emotional notes of a much more grown-up woman kicking a cheating loser ex to the curb for good, and about a decade later she’s telling a nearly perfectly reversed story, hitting not just the notes but the confidence in her own will. 
[9]

Ramzi Awn: JoJo’s voice has never sounded stronger, and though the theme may be recurring, it’s not tired. The simplicity of her plea is as real as it gets. Love hurts because it is precarious; it is possible to lose love. And people tend to have complicated experiences with it: some people can’t feel love, some feel it too much, others become addicted to it, and still others claim they don’t need it at all. By the sounds of it, JoJo’s been all over the map, and she is wiser for it.
[10]

Juana Giaimo: What a puzzling song. JoJo’s voice couldn’t sound stronger and one could even think encouraging — if you’re suffering, keep loving because that’s how love should be! But I’m not sure I want to celebrate that love dancing. Please keep that real love away from me!
[5]

Scott Mildenhall: The overegging of the undoubtedly complex semiotics of inhalation and pain aside — did she record this with a head cold? — this hits its targets with force. It sounds like a collaboration between Avicii and Kiesza, only with all the sharp edges removed; building in volume, but never in harshness.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Another solid single that will never see pop airplay despite the electronic touches in the chorus.
[6]

Andy Hutchins: Effective, anonymous mid-tempo house&B, sure, but JoJo’s singular voice barely gets to breathe. Could fit in on any of many radio rotations or gym-ready playlists; that’s not necessarily a good thing.
[5]

Rebecca A. Gowns: There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and the result is an another anonymous pop song, all build and no release. I still adore JoJo’s voice, but she needs better vehicles than this.
[3]