JoJo Siwa has found herself caught up in another controversy following the release of her debut song “Karma.” The former Dance Moms star has been undergoing a so-called rebrand as she’s attempting to move her girly-girl image into an edgy, adult concept — and spoiler alert, it’s not going too well.
Siwa has received mixed opinions on her song and “cringe” lyrics, “Oh, karma’s a b*tch, I should have known better,” but her recent interview with Billboard Magazine pushed her into hot water when she claimed to be creating a new genre called “gay pop.” Does “Padam Padam” mean nothing to her, or?
When speaking with Billboard she said: “I wanted to start a new genre of music. It’s called ‘gay pop.’ It’s like K-pop, but it’s gay pop.” This certainly caused some raised eyebrows and confusion. However, it got even more interesting when she compared “Karma” to iconic songs like “Applause” by Lady Gaga and “Can’t Be Tamed” by Miley Cyrus.
Unfortunately, this didn’t sit well with fans of the artists or with members of the LGBTQ+ community. The internet jumped on this opportunity to teach Siwa about the long-standing history of queer music pointing out that she is “So disrespectful and dismissive of every queer person in music who came before her.”
Many X users, formerly Twitter, were quick to point out that music today is made up of plenty of queer superstars including Reneé Rapp, Troye Sivan, boygenius, girl in red, and more. Other users even called out Siwa for having met many of these sapphic pop icons as they showed photos of Siwa posing with Chappell Roan, Fletcher, and Haley Kiyoko.
Yeah, the internet is not having this one.
Speaking of Tegan and Sara, the lesbian pop duo even responded to Swia’s claim with a silent reaction video on TikTok that subtly called out the ridiculous statement.
I think it’s safe to say that Siwa’s statement has missed the mark. Based on these pointed responses and comments calling Siwa out, it looks like she was right and Karma is a b*tch. Sorry, girl!