By Maya Bourne
Joelle, or “Jojo,” as she prefers to be known, Siwa has been a prominent internet figure since joining a spin-off of the popular show, Dance Moms in 2015, titled Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition. At just nine years old, Jojo exhibited her entire life for the world to see, causing her to adopt a very loud and colorful personality and wear her signature “Jojo Bow” and high ponytail almost every day. Even after leaving the show, Jojo retained her eccentric personality and bright colors, at least until recently.
Siwa’s personality took a dramatic turn in April of 2024, when she arrived at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in a new outfit, which has become a global meme due to her dramatic eye make-up and dark, skin-tight bodysuit. This behavior change came after a series of somewhat odd situations including her relationship with Avery Cyrus, and her friendship with the very controversial Colleen Ballinger. The public was already somewhat suspicious of Siwa after a series of stories shared by Cyrus about their relationship, labeling it as “toxic.” Though Siwa succeeded in coming out of these situations relatively unscathed, the next series of allegations against her proved even worse.
After leaving Dance Moms, Jojo and her mother, Jessalynn Siwa, created their own competition show in their band, XOMG Pop. This girl-pop band consisted of young girls, about the same age as Jojo and the other dancers were when they joined “Dance Moms.” Under this strict regime, the dancers were put through numerous stressful and unsafe situations by the Siwas. These young kids were forced to dance through illness and injury and perform at 110% the entire time. It cannot be ignored that the radical change to Jojo Siwa’s personality and appearance occurred incredibly soon after allegations against the treatment of her dancers.
But what really was this so-called “radical” change in Siwa’s personality? Well, it all comes back to the day of the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival and that iconic black, sequined bodysuit. The outfit created a massive uproar on social media about the stark difference between Siwa’s current look and her bowed appearance from just a few months earlier. People took to the internet, posting funny videos imitating her unique makeup design and all-black outfit. This attention seemed to only spur Siwa onward, as she continued to show up to award shows and other appearances in similar dark outfits and makeup, though it all stayed sequined and very glittery. This fact seemed to keep people skeptical of a real change in personality, as she still wore sequins and glitter, and the color palette was just darker than previous years. In addition to her interesting outfits, Siwa released her new single, “Karma”, on April 5, 2024. The song gained popularity, but probably not for the reasons Siwa was hoping for. With a somewhat obnoxious dance and extremely auto-tuned vocals, the song confused fans who wondered whether the song was fake, or just used as a publicity stunt. Siwa continued to post videos of her doing the “Karma” dance in various locations and even with other celebrities.
Though Siwa’s single was not met with overwhelming positivity, she continued with the rollout of her new album, Guilty Pleasure, which included new songs, such as “Guilty Pleasure”, “Balance Baby”, and the aforementioned “Karma”. Many of these songs included their own special and wacky dance performed by Siwa herself in numerous videos. It wasn’t just the dancing, however, that rubbed fans the wrong way. The song “Karma” was in fact originally written and sung by Brit Smith, an American singer. People found the original song she created after she posted a snippet of it on TikTok, and she even released it on streaming services, gaining more streams than Siwa’s version of the song. Unfazed by the backlash she was receiving, Siwa continued her album promotions, posting her chaotic dances and studio videos of her recording her songs on the internet to face criticism. However, the dances themselves weren’t the only problem with Siwa’s new facade. Most fans were confused at the kid-friendly words in her songs, such as saying “eff” instead of the actual F-word. Siwa had even put a trigger warning before playing the music video of her new song; however, little to no explicit language was used, causing fans to doubt the permanence of her new personality.
Jojo Siwa’s both drastic and extremely small personality change confused fans and the entire world, creating controversy and intrigue spanning across the globe. Through her errotic dances, kid-friendly vocals, and the permanence of her glitter and sequins, many fans have been driven to doubt this switch in character.