Ex-child star Jojo Siwa is going through a rebrand and becoming an internet meme after being in the public eye since she was 8 years old. People are comparing her “adult era” to Miley Cyrus’s “bangerz” era, and the controversy Cyrus brought with her music videos like Wrecking Ball. The child star into adulthood trope has been used time and time again with people like Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, and even Olivia Rodrigo and her recent Guts on a lesser scale. Her new persona is stirring up the internet- creating memes and pop culture moments people won’t forget.
Her upbringing
Joel Janie (Jojo) Siwa was born in Nebraska on May 19, 2003, to Jesselin Lombardi, a professional dance instructor, and Tom Siwa, an accomplished chiropractor. Jojo began her career as the youngest top-5 finalist in Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition. She later began to appear on the highly successful Dance Moms where her career took off. Her parents saw the publicity from Dance Moms and her dancing as an opportunity to make Jojo successful. In 2015, Jojo launched her YouTube channel, “Its Jojo Siwa,” and gained over 12 million subscribers. As her following grew, Nickelodeon partnered with Jojo often and named her, in March 2017, the Favorite Viral Music Artist at the Kids Choice Awards. Jojo’s outreach to kids and families became so widespread that she even hung out with Kim Kardashian and her kids.
Jojo leaves the bow– she becomes controversial
In January 2021, Jojo posted a photo on Instagram wearing a shirt that said “Best Gay Cousin Ever”. It came as a shock to many audiences as how she went from a bubbly children’s entertainer to coming out. In June 2021 Jojo began getting spotted around her girlfriend Kylie Pru. Jojo’s career continued as she appeared in Dancing with the Stars on Season 30 in October 2021. Jojo has had her fair share of controversy as she used to collaborate with adult YouTubers. Some of them include Shane Dawson- A YouTuber accused of bestiality, James Charles- a YouTuber accused of grooming, Colleen Ballinger- Another YouTuber accused of grooming, Meghan Trainor,- A pop artist, canceled for condemning teachers.. The relationship Jojo has had with Colleen and James has been very questioned still till this day. Jojo began to do collab videos with Colleen Ballinger when she was very young. Collens’ character, Miranda Sings, would make offputting and inappropriate comments and jokes with Jojo. However, Jojo recently went on the Howie Mandel Podcast and defended Colleen Ballinger. Jojo said on the podcast, “The internet can take a lie and run so far with it- so far… I know Colleen very very very well and I think the work Colleen has done for the internet is incredible. I think her creativity is incredible. Miranda Sings is a comedian and I think being a comedian is very hard because you can do things years ago that were okay and now that we’ve grown and matured and realized that they’re not okay, you know what I mean?”
Jojo’s controversy didn’t stop as she and her mom got criticism from a Rolling Stone article about a girl group Jojo manages called XOMGPOP. Angie Sanderson, a group member, and her mother Leah spoke out about their experience. They shared their story with Rolling Stone, detailing their time in the girl group. They claimed that Jojo’s mom, Jesaline, was overtly cruel and shamed them for having a disability. At one point Leah Sanderson alleged that Jojo screamed insults at the girls during a performance and helped play a role in building a cutthroat environment long after the cameras were gone. Sanderson said they, “… playing favorites and pitting members against each other.”
A popular TikTok, Avery Cyrus began dating Jojo in September 2022 after months of fan speculation. Fans did not support their relationship, however, because Avery began to date Jojo quickly after Avery broke up with another partner of multiple years. Their relationship was short-lived, only lasting two months. Although they broke up a long time ago, Jojo and Avery continue to “beef” on TikTok. Avery does storytimes on the app and claims Jojo would make her cry and mock her. Jojo began publicity stunts shortly after her beef with Avery. Jojo later decided to start posting videos that are now memes. She pretended to be pregnant on Snapchat. Jojo would take selfies, caption “Boy or Girl?”, and give a shopping haul of baby clothes. On Jojo’s podcast, she said, “One of the biggest things for me right that I’m looking for in a relationship is someone who is ready for kids. I am not ready but I’m very near ready. I think that within the next 3… Say 3 or 4 years which I could say 2-3 but I still feel like I’ll be a little young in 2 years, but I say 3 or 4 because I feel like “Pregnant in 3, babies in 4.” You know what I mean?”
Her New Era
About a month ago, Jojo posted a disclaimer on her Instagram saying, “ WARNING: The following content is not made for children and may be disturbing or offensive to some viewers. It may contain sexual themes, violence, strong language, traumatic scenarios, and flashing lights. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.” Quickly after her disclaimer was posted, teasers for a new song began to surface on the internet. Jojo started posting herself dancing to the video, gaining attention and becoming a meme. I’m sure we all have seen it at this point. Jojo then appeared at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in her new edgy look. People began to say she looked like she was part of KISS, WWE, and even looked like a Fortnite skin. On April 5th Jojo released her music video “Karma” on YouTube and the song on streaming platforms. On Jojo’s podcast, she said, “ I was very afraid of the lyrics of Karma. I wasn’t ready to say I was a bad girl. I wasn’t ready to say I should’ve known better.”
Although the backlash Jojo has been receiving with her new song, you cannot deny the impact she has made within pop culture and the amount of people talking about her. If anything, she is an example of great marketing and publicity stunts. Jojo shows no signs of slowing down, and we can expect more music from her soon.
