Jojo or No-no?
By Tori Roderick and Olivia Tucker, Staff Writers
May 7, 2024
Negative Perspective:
Surely, we all know Jojo Siwa from her role on the show "Dance Moms", and her single “Boomerang" that was the start of her fame. But her new era has been the topic that everyone is talking about.
On April 5, 2024, Jojo Siwa released “Karma" after many weeks of dropping teasers for this new song.
Many NHS students have a lot to say about this new era.
“It was very unnecessary. She doesn’t need to be dressed up like that and beating water,” said Sophomore Isla Wilson.
Some people felt the video was a little mature for Siwa's audience despite the age ratings.
“She didn't need to be on top of other women the way she was,” Sophomore Ayla McCahon explained.
Others were simply baffled by Siwa's stylistic choices.
“ I was confused about why she filmed the whole music video just to play it backward,” Sophomore Riley Barnett said.
Positive Perspective:
In all honesty, the situation doesn’t look too good for Jojo Siwa, who has been painted mostly in a negative light by the media in recent years.
Between her bold claim that she wanted to invent a new music genre known as “gay pop music,” something that has already existed for decades, and rumors of her telling media publications she wrote her song, which is untrue, Siwa has faced a lot of criticism.
However, it is possible to view all of Siwa’s poor decisions in a positive way.
Thousands of people flooded social media platforms such as TikTok and X to disprove Siwa’s “innovative” idea of creating a new genre that already exists, citing Elton John, David Bowie, and George Michael as some early pioneers.
Many others flocked to the scene saying that either way, Siwa is not doing anything experimental, with other young queer pop artists trending across the world such as Sam Smith, girl in red, Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga, and Phoebe Bridgers.
This one misconception given in a quick interview was able to unite many people to share a spotlight on many queer musicians across multiple platforms, creating a much more inclusive and accepting environment on social media for other queer pop artists.
Despite the already negative backlash Siwa was receiving, it only got worse as it was revealed that the song that she claimed was hers was stolen. People on the internet are claiming that she has stolen the song from Brit Smith, who is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and model. People are also claiming that Siwa stole the song from Miley Cyrus.
But this is not the only reason Siwa has been facing backlash. In 2021 Jojo Siwa started a girl group called XOMG POP! that was popular with little kids as it was a group of younger girls.
As this group went on tours and traveled around the world, some of the girls left and no one understood why until it was figured out that one of the XOMG POP! girls named Leigha Sanderson had spina bifida which is a condition that affects your spine.
Because this was a dancing group it was imagined that all of this was a lot for at the time 14 year old Leigha. Rumors reported that Siwa would work Sanderson very harshly. Sanderson had a spinal cord surgery, and Siwa's team allegedly made her work and dance just a few weeks after the surgery in very intense pain.
But that's not all, Sanderson went through a lot as she was a part of XOMG POP! Other girls received harsh comments from Siwa and her mother, and would also be very overworked most of the time. This would mean Siwa would make these teen girls forget school and very intense rehearsals, according to the Rolling Stone newspaper website.
Many are concerned that Jojo Siwa is going to turn out to be another Abby Lee in the making.
One user on X shared “Poppy invented gay pop years before jojo siwa could even comprehend it.”
Her bold claim also was the inspiration for an abundant amount of jokes and laughter.
Another X user says “Filling in for Jojo Siwa as the CEO of gay pop last night,” after attending a karaoke night.
Despite her claim being unequivocally incorrect, it’s also important to note that despite Siwa's new music era being “R-rated”, she still serves as a role model for young children who might identify as gay or connect to her vibrant, loud personality.
She recently made history in 2021 on the reality-tv show Dancing with the Stars where she was the first celebrity to perform with a partner of the same sex.
Her new comeback era also opened with her single “Karma” was released April 5, 2024, a song that many believed to be self-written.
However, it came out a few weeks later that the song was an exact replica of a 2012 throwaway single by pop-singer Brit Smith.
The discovery that Siwa’s song originally belonged to another attempted popstar sparked many discussions about plagiarism and ghostwriting. It also caused Brit Smith’s version of the song to explode on the charts and cause Smith to rise in popularity.
According to Officialcharts.com, Smith’s “Karma’s a b–tch” rose to 40 on the charts, its new peak and surpassed Jojo Siwa’s version of the song, which peaked at 76.
After multiple scandals and bad PR moves, it is widely decided that by destroying her own career, Siwa was able to catapult Smith’s, and give her a moment in the spotlight.
Smith later capitalized on this popularity by releasing her version of the song on streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. She has also been doing many interviews with major news sources to share her view on the rumors swirling around online.
Many flocked to social media to support Brit and her version of the song.
One user shared, “This version is so much better [crying emoji].”
Another exclaimed “This came out in 2012 when I was 6.. So you’re basically telling me I could’ve grown up with this song? [heart eyes emoji].”
And most importantly, this whole situation has given many people a laugh and brought about a form of unity on the internet, which doesn’t happen very often
Many different people rose to disprove some of Siwa's bold claims and to give their opinion on “Karma” and the controversial music video.
A funny dance to Siwa's version of the song went viral at the beginning of April and the TikTok sound has nearly 140,000 videos as of April 23, 2024.
Another trending sound was found in a red carpet interview with Siwa and Variety, where she was asked who she would like to have on her podcast.
Siwa responded with, much to the amusement of a majority of the internet, “Dream guest on my podcast? Oh my gosh, I mean let’s spice things up, one of my exes.” She then proceeds to begin laughing and turn away, an action that many TikTok viewers find hilarious.
Many have also posted their thoughts on X, TikTok, and posted reaction videos on YouTube to the music video itself.
At the end of the day, laughter brings people closer together.