JoJo Siwa is ready to enter her new era — and she’s not holding back!
The former child star turns 21 next month, and she’s stepping into adulthood with a new single, “Karma,” and its provocative music video, both out Friday.
“Karma, to me, is something that you do to yourself,” Siwa explained to ET’s Ash Crossan during an exclusive visit to the set of the video. “That can be good, that can be bad, but you’re always gonna get it.”
“There’s actually quite a few different meanings in the song,” she continued. “Part of it’s about life and choices you make. Part of it is about things that people have done to me. Part of it might even be about things that I’ve done to people.”
Siwa, who got her start as a young performer on the reality TV show Dance Moms, before gaining millions of child fans through her YouTube videos and Nickelodeon productions, referred to the release of her new single as the “beast moment” of her career so far — though she acknowledged that it hasn’t been easy to try and mature her image in the public eye.
“It’s been something that we’ve tried to figure out the best way to navigate,” she admitted. “I do have such a young fan base, and I do have a lot of kids that look at JoJo Siwa and still follow my music from years ago. However, you know, I’m not the same that I was when I was 14.”
“That can live on and people can know that human. But this now is 20-year-old, 21-year-old, here for a good time [JoJo]. Let’s be honest, let’s be real. Let’s make some art,” she said of her new era.
While previously making reference to Miley Cyrus‘ controversial Bangerz era in regard to the inspiration for her new, more mature look and sound, Siwa channeled different generations when she spoke to ET about her influences for “Karma.”
“Michael Jackson, Prince, Elton, Bowie — and of course, Gaga, take all the inspiration from Gaga,” she noted. “Those people, for me, that were just not afraid. Elvis was the first to be not be afraid to be different, to not be afraid to be out there, to not be afraid to take a risk.”
“I mean, the sh*t Freddie Mercury used to wear onstage — you would be like, what?” she added. “I think now, people are afraid to be different and… we’re all different. We’re all weird. We’re all a little f**ked up. And I think that’s OK to show that.”
Siwa, who came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community in January 2021, has had two major public relationships with women since. She dated friend Kylie Prew on and off from February 2021-June 2022 before beginning a relationship with influencer Avery Cyrus, which ended in December 2022.
It seems those formative queer relationships have definitely inspired Siwa’s new sound, as she told ET that she’s spent “the last few years actually, like, truly going in on music.”
“I’ve been in the studio every, almost every day — every week is a bit more fair to say,” she shared. “There are 20-plus songs in the bank. There is a whole world that people are going to be, you know, introduced to — a whole world that I’m creating, I’m envisioning and living in.”
“You’re going to a deep, dark hole inside my brain. It’s only a door I’m unlocking for you: Karma World,” Siwa announced.
“Karma” is, of course, just the introduction to the creativity to come, and Siwa went all out for the music video, casting So You Think You Can Dance season 17 winner Alexis Warr as her love interest in the frosty fantasy world.
“She is incredible. She is awesome,” Siwa said of Warr. “It’s actually our first time ever dancing together, which is actually crazy. She’s wonderful. We’ve had the best time.”
Siwa was actually a judge on Warr’s winning SYTYCD season, and said she’s been similarly “beyond” involved in every other aspect of the creation of “Karma,” from costumes to choreography.
“I came up with the concept a year ago, pitched the whole concept… choreography, costumes. I, actually, Alexis, I did her makeup earlier!” she added. “Everything that I can have my hand in, I have my hand in.”
“Karma” is out now.
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