JoJo Siwa's Transformation Shows She's Not Just About The Hair Bows
JoJo Siwa has worn a lot of hats — or rather, bows — over the course of her wildly successful yet comparatively short career in show business. Since making her television debut in Lifetime reality hit "Dance Moms," viewers have watched the young dancer blossom as a child star, branching out from dancing into acting and singing, even launching her own line of branded merch — always recognizable for her signature rainbow outfits, accentuated with a giant hair bow. Back in 2017, teenage Siwa spoke with Showstopper Magazine about the direction her career was taking. "It has been amazing! I have so many fun projects I'm working on, I feel like I'm living a dream [every day]!" she said.
In the years since giving that interview, she's accomplished a lot, including releasing numerous pop singles, going on tour, and appearing on several television shows, both scripted and unscripted. In late 2023, in fact, she was among the celebs featured in the second season of Fox reality show "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test," ultimately quitting the eight-day endurance test.
In the spring of 2024, Siwa took a big step that promised to shift her career in an unforeseen direction — although whether fans will follow her there remains to be seen.
She began dancing at age 2
JoJo Siwa's mother, Jessalyn Siwa, owned a dance studio in Omaha, Nebraska, so it's not surprising that the youngster became immersed in the world of dance at a very young age. Accompanying her mom to the studio as a toddler, JoJo's curiosity about dancing developed organically. "I started dancing when I was 2 years old!" Siwa told Showstopper Magazine. "That's actually when I did my first solo too! It was to 'Mama I'm a Big Girl Now' and I was still wearing a diaper!"
As her mom explained in an interview with Rolling Stone, she nurtured her daughter's interest, encouraging her to dance at every opportunity. JoJo's talents grew quickly — so much so that friends who came to visit would request that she perform for them. "I would literally wake her up [at night] and she would do her dance," Jessalyn said.
As she grew older, JoJo's dance skills grew even stronger. Having taught dance to numerous kids over the years, her mother came to realize that her daughter possessed "it" — that magical intangible quality of which stars are made. "I just knew from about the time she was like 1 1/2 that she was really special because I'd seen a lot of kids," she told Time.
She was just a kid when she became a standout on Dance Moms
In 2013, JoJo Siwa was just 9 years old when she was among the children to compete in "Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition," a spinoff series of "Dance Moms." Siwa proved to be such a standout that she joined "Dance Moms" in its fifth season. Despite being the youngest of the dancers — a group that also included Maddie Ziegler — Siwa quickly distinguished herself and became famous in the process. For Siwa, being on television brought her the kind of recognition she'd always craved — not to mention the perks of celebrity. "The best part is being recognized and meeting all the fans and getting free stuff," she told the Telegraph Herald back in 2013.
Being trained — and continually berated — by the ever-volatile Abby Lee Miller may not have been the most enjoyable experience, but Siwa believed it toughened her up in preparation for the Hollywood career that, even at that young age, she was pursuing. "One thing that I've learned really working insane in Hollywood is that that's normal," Siwa said while appearing in 2024's "Dance Moms: The Reunion" special. "And it's scary that that's normal, but that taught me how to survive in the industry. It truly is so tough."
JoJo Siwa exploded on YouTube
In February 2015, not long after her debut in "Dance Moms," JoJo Siwa launched her own YouTube channel, "It's JoJo Siwa." While the channel has since morphed into XOMG POP!, it still features the very first video she posted, in which her 2-year-old self can be seen performing her first dance solo.
Meanwhile, the videos she uploaded showcased other talents beyond dance, with Siwa proving herself to be a comedian in various sketches, including one in which she runs through her supposed morning routine, another in which she takes "Dance Moms" star Abby Lee Miller for a drive in her new car, and several video collaborations with "Miranda Sings" star Colleen Ballinger. While the YouTube channel proved to be wildly successful, garnering more than 12 million followers to date, she found even greater success when she began posting content on TikTok. Boasting more than 45 million followers as of this writing, her TikTok videos have been liked in excess of 1.9 billion times.
As is often the case with social media, all that adulation came hand in hand with online hate and bullying. During a 2017 appearance on British talk show "This Morning," she opened up about the kind of negative comments she'd been receiving. "They can just comment, 'You're fat,' 'You're ugly,' 'You're rude,' 'You're a brat,' 'I hate you,' 'You're annoying,' and it's just terrible," she said. "It's so mean that someone can just comment. You don't even know who it is half the time."
She entered the world of music by releasing her first single
WIth a ready-built audience from her social media success, JoJo Siwa set her sights on a new medium to conquer with the release of her first single, "I Can Make You Dance," in 2015. She followed that up with "Boomerang," which may have been bathed in pop sheen but confronted a serious topic: bullying. Siwa admitted to Billboard that because she'd been homeschooled, she hadn't really been the victim of in-person bullying, but she had certainly experienced more than her fair share of the online variety. "I never really had experienced hate in school with girls and boys. What I do experience is social media and so every day people comment, 'You're fat, you're ugly, you're rude, you're all this stuff,' and I just don't like it at all," she said. "I don't want anyone to have to go through that." The "Boomerang" music video became a smash hit, to put it mildly. As of April 2024, it sits at 1 billion views.
More music followed, with Siwa building on the wholesome brand she'd built with her millions of young fans. Those included "Hold the Drama," "Kid in a Candy Store," "High Top Shoes," and "Every Girl's a Super Girl." Having established herself as a teenage hitmaker, Siwa was perfectly positioned to glide into the next phase of her illustrious career.
She became a Nickelodeon star
Since coming to fame on "Dance Moms," JoJo Siwa remained a fixture at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. In 2017, she formalized that association when she signed a talent contract with Nickelodeon, in which she'd star in a docuseries and other projects for the kid-centric network. "JoJo's an entrepreneur, her family is everything to her and she is happy just being a kid," Nickelodeon's Shelly Sumpter Gillyard said in a statement provided to BusinessWire. "We have watched JoJo's career as a real breakout talent and knew when we met with her that our audience would welcome her as part of the Nickelodeon family."
As part of that deal, Siwa appeared in Nickelodeon's "School of Rock" series and the 2018 TV movie "Blurt." She also voiced a character in the animated series "Middle School Moguls" and starred in her own animated series, "The JoJo & BowBow Show Show." Additionally, she appeared in various specials, including "JoJo's Dream Birthday," and "JoJo Siwa: My World."
Promoting the latter special on BUILD Series, she explained that "My World" offered viewers a fly-on-the-wall, behind-the-scenes look at her preparations for a massive concert at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. "It's really cool," she said, "because you've seen me before, but you haven't seen me like this."
JoJo Siwa's merch brought her success and controversy
JoJo Siwa and controversy rarely appeared in the same sentence — during her Nickelodeon days, at least. However, she encountered some unexpected backlash when she launched a line of branded merch for kid-friendly fashion retailer Claire's. Among the Siwa-branded items she was selling were — what else? — hair bows, which, like her own, were large and garishly colored.
Siwa has seen incredible success with her hair bows. As she told Forbes, she sold more than 80 million of them by 2020. However, Siwa's hair bows also encountered resistance. Across, the pond British schools began banning them, saying they didn't align with rules regarding school uniforms. Meanwhile, the mother of one British student wrote that the bows were banned in her daughter's school for an entirely different reason. "They fuelled a type of bullying so the head teacher banned them outright," one mom revealed on Mumsnet (via The Telegraph). "Fortunately my daughter thought they looked ridiculous so was never drawn into that particularly hideous fad."
That wasn't the only problem that Siwa encountered with her products, though. In 2019, America's Food and Drug Administration recalled her makeup kits when they were found to contain asbestos. Then, in 2021 CNN reported she was hit with backlash over her "JoJo's Juice" board game when parents questioned the appropriateness of such questions as "Have you ever gone outside without underwear? (A bathing suit doesn't count)," and "Have you ever been arrested?"
She hit the road for her D.R.E.A.M. tour
Another part of JoJo Siwa's Nickelodeon partnership emerged in late 2018, with the announcement that she'd be mounting her first-ever live concert tour. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 25-city tour — dubbed Nickelodeon's JoJo Siwa D.R.E.A.M. The Tour — was scheduled to kick off in May 2019. Demand for tickets was staggering. Before the tour had even started, it was expanded from 25 dates to 70, then to more than 80. The tour had grown so much that ticket retailer StubHub declared D.R.E.A.M. The Tour to be among the top tours of the summer, alongside those of Queen, The Rolling Stones, and Ariana Grande.
Although several of the 2020 shows had to be rescheduled to 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic, the tour proved to be lucrative. Billboard reported that the first North American leg, which wrapped in November 2019, raked in more than $27 million.
For fans who couldn't make it in person, Nickelodeon presented a TV special featuring live performances from the tour, along with behind-the-scenes moments. For Siwa, who'd never undertaken a concert tour before, the scale of what she was doing proved to be breathtaking. "I'm going to be performing for over a million people, which is something I've only dreamed of," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
JoJo Siwa came out as LGBTQ+
In January 2021, 17-year-old JoJo Siwa shared a photo of herself on social media, accompanied by a caption reading, "My cousin got me a new shirt." The t-shirt she wore bore the words, "Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever." Her tweet was immediately praised by Ellen DeGeneres, Lil Nas X, and Perez Hilton.
Siwa opened up about her decision to come out in a cover story for People, admitting she was still in the process of fully sorting out her sexuality. "I still don't know what I am. It's like, I want to figure it out," she said, explaining that she didn't want to saddle herself with any labels. "Technically I would say that I am pansexual because that's how I have always been my whole life is just like, my human is my human," she explained. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Siwa revealed that she'd been out to friends and family long before she made her public announcement. Plus, she pointed out, there were certainly clues that could have easily been picked up on. "I mean, I wore a rainbow on the top of my head almost every day of my life," she said.
Siwa's manager, Caryn Sterling, viewed Siwa's openness about her sexuality to be beneficial as she evolved from teen to adult, and only enhanced the brand she'd built. "When will the message of empowerment, self-confidence, positivity, and self-love get old?" Sterling told Entertainment Weekly.
She made history on Dancing With the Stars
JoJo Siwa had been out and proud for several months when the announcement came down that she'd be one of the celebrities competing in the 30th season of the hit reality competition "Dancing With the Stars." Partnered with pro dancer Jenna Johnson, Siwa's participation was historic, marking the first time that a same-sex pair danced together on the show.
While it would be easy to assume that Siwa's years of dance training would give her an edge against the season's other celebs, she insisted that she'd never attempted ballroom dancing before and would essentially be starting at square one. "This is a whole new ball game for me," Siwa said in a pre-recorded video shown prior to their first dance. "It's a learning experience that I'm more than ready for."
Johnson and Siwa made a phenomenal team on the dance floor, even earning the season's first perfect score for their flawless foxtrot. Ultimately, though, Siwa did not take home the Mirror Ball trophy, which went to NBA star Iman Shumpert and pro dancer Daniella Karagach. "Nobody likes to lose. Nobody does," Siwa told reporters after the finale, as reported by Hollywood Life. However, she added, "I would much rather get second than have gone home a week earlier."
She became a judge on So You Think You Can Dance
After placing second during her historic run on "Dancing With the Stars," JoJo Siwa wasn't done with televised dance competitions. That became clear in April 2022, when she was announced as one of the judges on Fox's "So You Thing You Can Dance," along with returning judge Stephen "tWitch" Boss and former "Glee" star Matthew Morrison, who was subsequently replaced by "King of Queens" alum Leah Remini when some flirtatious DMs to a dance contestant led to his firing.
Siwa received mixed reviews from viewers. The result was a barrage of social media comments criticizing her judging ability, even questioning whether she was qualified to judge dancers. She responded by tweeting out a rundown of her credentials. "18 Years of Dance Knowledge," she wrote. "4 Major dance TV shows. I've hired over 1000 dancers. 16 Dance music videos. If you don't like me that's okay ... but if you think I don't know about dance ya just sound silly."
Siwa returned for the revamped 2024 season, replacing OG judge and exec producer Nigel Lythgoe when the former "American Idol" producer stepped away from the judges' table after Paula Abdul accused him of sexual assault.
She co-led a Dance Pop Revolution but controversy followed
In February 2024, bombshells were dropped in an explosive Rolling Stone exposé accusing Jojo Siwa and her mother, Jessalyn Siwa, of mistreating the members of XOMG Pop! — the singing-and-dancing group comprised of girls between the ages of 8 and 14 selected from the 2021 Peacock competition series, "Siwas Dance Pop Revolution." In the series, young dancers from all over America competed, with the best chosen for the group managed by JoJo and Jessalyn.
Over time, four group members left, including Leigha Sanderson. Her mother, Anjie, told Rolling Stone her daughter was fired after expressing concerns. She also alleged that JoJo and her mother were consistently abusive toward the girls. She went on to claim the girls were made to work long hours — in violation of child labor laws — and saw only a tiny fraction of the money that was generated. She also alleged JoJo insulted the girls, yelling and berating them all while pitting them against each other in a viciously competitive atmosphere.
Siwa and her mother denied everything, claiming it was Anjie Sanderson's combative conduct that was solely responsible for her daughter's firing. "These allegations are 100 percent provably false," read a statement from the Siwas' attorney, Bryan Freedman. "Voluminous and irrefutable evidence would tell you all you need to know — that a disgruntled momager's own abusive behavior caused for her daughter to be asked not to return to the group."
She rebranded with the release of her first adult single, Karma
JoJo Siwa released a new single in April 2024, which represented a radical rebrand from the rainbows and hair bows of the past. Titled "Karma," the lyrics represented Siwa's conscious attempt to shed the wholesome image that propelled her to success during her Nickelodeon era. "I was a bad girl, I did some bad things," Siwa sings in the opening line. Then, she arrived at the iHeartradio Music Awards wearing a seemingly KISS-inspired outfit, complete with glittery black face paint. According to Siwa, it all represented her attempt to replicate the clean and decisive break that Miley Cyrus made with her Disney Channel persona when she released "Bangerz."
Interviewed by The New York Times, Siwa explained that what she was doing with "Karma" was even more trailblazing than what Cyrus had done, given that she wasn't distancing herself from a fictional character the way Cyrus did with Hannah Montana but with the previous iteration of her actual self. "I am the first, per se, first child star that is going from not a character to still not a character," she said.
Siwa was hit with backlash, perhaps not unpredictably, but she took it all in stride. "The internet has gotten very mad at me," Siwa told Billboard. "The internet has taken me through the frickin' ringer ... but at the end of the day, I made the art that I wanted to and I am so happy."