OPINION: JoJo Siwa has entered her self-proclaimed ‘bad girl’ and ‘adult’ era, and it has a lot of people on the internet asking “JoJo, have you learnt NOTHING?”
From becoming a reality TV star at just ten years old to a glittery, hairbow-wearing teen popstar, to a prominent social media personality - as a long-time JoJo follower, I’ve seen JoJo go through a few different eras in her life. Here’s my take on what’s happening, and why I think it's absolutely working for her, despite the backlash.
In recent years, JoJo’s phased out the iconic hair bow and childlike brand, switching her social media presence to align more with her 20-year-old personality. We’ve seen her post about her relationships (don’t even get me STARTED on the Avery drama - IYKYK), as well as hanging with celebs, BTS of various TV shows she appears on, LGBTQIA+ content, and other content about her colourful life in general.
But over the last few weeks, JoJo has drastically shaken up her social media accounts and colourful brand - and people are feeling all sorts of ways about it.
She started the re-brand by warning her followers that from now on she’ll be posting content that is ‘not made for children’, and may have ‘sexual themes’ and ‘strong language’. Then, she announced a new song ‘Karma,’ and when I tell you she’s been pumping out snippets of the song - holy hecka, she’s been sharing snippets of it all day, every day on her social media accounts.
“I was a bad girl, I did some bad things,” are the opening lyrics to the new song. The chorus has the lyrics “karma’s a bitch, I should’ve known better, if I had a wish I would’ve never effed around.” (Do I know the lyrics off by heart because the song has been stuck in my head for a week? Yes ma’am)
There are a few reasons why people feel like JoJo has missed the mark with the re-brand.
Firstly, the lyrics of the song don’t really feel super authentic to JoJo. When was she a ‘bad girl’ or a ‘wild child’? As plenty of people have pointed out, she was wearing bows and singing about candy up until a couple of years ago.
JoJo’s been comparing her rebrand to the likes of Miley Cyrus’ ‘break-out-of-Disney’ era, but she hasn’t changed her look that much. She’s ditched the rainbow glitter and sequins for silver and black glitter and sequins - but she’s still wearing glitter and sequins, ya know?
As someone on TikTok pointed out, her new look is just a monochrome version of her old look, with just a bit more skin showing and some Gene Simmons (singer of KISS) looking makeup.
There are plenty of other reasons why people are ripping into JoJo at the moment (I won’t even get into her choreography for the new song), but personally, I’m LIVING for her rebrand. And honestly, there are plenty of others out there who are eating it up too.
I reckon JoJo knows exactly what she’s doing. Is she annoying the shit out of everyone by posting the snippet of her song over and over again? Yes. But is the song getting stuck inside people’s heads to the point where it’s lowkey becoming a banger? In my opinion, also yes.
I think JoJo knows how to get people talking about her - whether it’s good or bad - and I think she’s doing a great job of that at the moment.
Whether you love her or hate her - I think this rebrand is pretty bloody entertaining. All power to JoJo, I say.
On that note - JoJo’s new song ‘Karma’ is now available to listen to in full in Aotearoa. Go have a listen if you want, but don’t blame me for getting the song stuck in your head (if it's not already.)
