PHOEBE ROBERTSON (SHE/HER)
On the 6th of March Jojo Siwa uploaded a blank square to her Instagram account with the text “couldn’t load image. Tap to retry”, and the caption: “bitch”. Meanwhile, on her Tik Tok account she posted a video with the caption “It was a matter of time”, and a series of slideshow images stating, in order, “See You In One Month Remember Karma’s A Bitch.”
She then went on to upload a series of grainy rehearsal photos and videos from the 6th of March to the 13th of March on her Instagram. The respective captions: “a, Karma’s, remember, month, one, in, you, see, I should’ve known better.” We can now take this to mean “Remember karma’s a [blank], I should’ve known better. See you in one month.” On the 19th of March, Siwa released the first snippet of “Karma”, a behind-the-scenes of rehearsals with the lyrics “I was a bad girl.” In this video, Siwa showed off her ‘new’ style. On the 17th of March she released another behind-the-scenes video, this time the now infamous dance to her song “Karma”, choreographed by Richy Jackson.
On the 2nd of April she was photographed outside an adult store by paparazzi. In the image, she clearly displays a long receipt to the camera as well as holding a newly bought giant penis plushy. This is reminiscent of when Madonna was photographed leaving an adult store in 2007. Madonna's bag was clear, displaying a “‘Purple Penetrator’ strap-on sex toy.” Unfortunately, Siwa’s bag was opaque.
On the 5th of April “Karma” was officially released. However, shortly afterwards it was alleged that the song was not written by Siwa. Allegedly it was written in the early 2010’s as an unreleased Miley Cyrus song. This was confirmed by singer Brit Smith on the 13th of April (via Page Six) who recorded the song with Rock Mafia in 2012. She confirmed the song was originally intended for singer Miley Cyrus and it was passed on to Brit Smith, but never released.
On the 8th of April Siwa came under fire after an interview with Billboard in which she stated that she “wanted to start a new genre of music… it’s called ‘gay pop’ … It’s that world of music, where it’s not necessarily pop—it’s not giving you Katy Perry ‘California Girls’ pop, it’s giving you Lady Gaga ‘Judas’”.
TMZ approached Siwa for a comment on the 15th of April. She said she “[doesn't] know who Brit Smith is.” And “I did not steal anything. There's no such thing as stealing." When approached, the honorable Mark Mitchell, New Zealand minister of police, did not respond to a request for comment about whether stealing exists or not.
This claim that Siwa does not write her own songs was further substantiated when Tik Tokers noticed that another song “Choose Ur lover (fighter)” (leaked at Siwas launch party), was first released to the platform in 2022 from Tik Tok user @EMELINE. @EMELINE is alleged to have written the song. After a flood of comments @EMELINE responded in the comments saying “hi 2024 fans, i’m going to make a storytime soon. i actually didn’t sign off on it coming out with jojo (not her fault). if my version gets love, i can still put it out after hers [purple love heart emoji] thanks for the support”. This comment, and the original video of the song by creator @EMELINE has been deleted.
The launch party sparked further controversy when notably ‘canceled’ figures Colleen Ballinger, Tom Sandoval and James Charles were in attendance.
To further the drama, on the 14th of April Brit Smith released her version of “Karma” on streaming platforms. As of the 19th of April, Smith’s recording of the song (released under the title of “Karma’s a Bitch”) ranked number five on the iTunes pop charts. Siwa’s “Karma” was No. 63. Taylor Swift's “Karma” ranked in the middle at 46th, but does not share lyrics with either previously mentioned song. As of the 24th of April both Smith and Siwa have been kicked off the charts with Swift releasing a new double album. Unfortunately, none of Swifts songs appear to reference Siwa.
The controversy does not appear to be affecting Siwa, as she was spotted performing at Miami Pride on the 14th of April. Confusingly, her set included her song “Boomerang” which was released in 2016 when Siwa was in her “good girl” era. An estimated 55,000 people were in attendance to see the event (and identity crisis) unfold.
On the 18th of April, in the comment section of the Tik Tok video posted that day, @Anne asked Siwa “When are you going to write your own songs?” To which Siwa replied “Never, I’m not a songwriter. I’m an entertainer, artist and performer.”
This entire reband follows a damning Rolling Stone article about Siwa and her mother that was released on the 13th of February 2024. In the article, former members of Jojo Siwas group XOMG Pop! speak out against Siwa, alleging “cruel” behavior by Siwa and her mother Jessalynn. This includes Jessalynn encouraging a performer “to attend a video shoot just a few weeks after she underwent spinal cord surgery.” The Siwas later denied a detailed list of these accusations “via their counsel, entertainment attorney Bryan Freedman, saying the abuse came from Anjie.” Anjie is the mother of one of the XOMG Pop! dancers.
It remains unknown what the future holds for the Siwa’s; but one thing is clear. Jojo Siwa “should’ve known better” than to think a rebrand would be enough to quiet the allegations of abuse. To the reader, watch this space.