JoJo Siwa, previously a young pop star, now creates edgy music with a new style. She started off on Dance Moms and Nickelodeon, where she soon became known for wearing big bows and influencing kids with her colorful style, and now her target audience seems to be something else entirely.
Her music video, on her latest song “Karma” launched April 5th, seems to be packed with loads of content inappropriate for her past viewers. Although it is evident that she wasn’t going to remain a kid forever, nobody expected such a drastic change as she shifted into adulthood.
“I expected her to switch things up eventually, especially since she is no longer a teenager. But I thought it would be her maturing her music and staying similar rather than a so-called revamp,” states Sarah Soberon, Sophomore. She went on to say, “I think she is ultimately trying to be someone she isn’t, and this change is her wanting to find a new image, but realistically she is attempting to resemble the behaviors of other celebrities like Miley Cyrus.”
Siwa herself is extremely proud of her rebranding, her new single “Karma” gives her an opportunity to create the content that she feels confident in. While this is all excitement for Siwa, the public seems to have an abundance of criticism and negativity towards the whole idea. Especially with recent findings on “Karma” actually not being her own work.
Due to the power of social media, the true creator of Karma has come to light. Although, at first Siwa allegedly claimed to write the song, it has become known that Brit Smith made the song. Now, the original work is taking the charts by storm, as people rush to support her music rather than Siwa’s. Smith is No. 18 on iTunes Top Songs, as of April 19th, with Siwa’s song nowhere near hers. Although many people are angry about her “thievery” she did have rights to the song and this speculation occurs a lot in the music industry.
The internet has also started to mock Jojo Siwa for recent things she has been saying. One being her desire to create a new genre of music called “gay pop.” Many swarmed to attack her by posting videos making fun of it. Upon clarification, Jojo elaborated that she wanted to make the genre more known because many people have no idea what it is. Another thing going around social media is who she would want to bring on to her podcast the most, which she stated was her ex. People are dressing up in KISS inspired makeup and mimicking her interview as a trend.
Ultimately, despite many individuals disliking Jojo’s new branding, it is evident that she is still gaining attention from the world. Even if people say they are making a joke out of her era, the publicity she has is becoming one of the biggest trends on TikTok.