JoJo Siwa

Joelle Joanie "JoJo" Siwa ( SEE-wah; born May 19, 2003) is an American singer, dancer, actress, and media personality. From 2015 to 2016, she appeared as a dancer on two seasons of the reality television show Dance Moms alongside her mother, Jessalynn Siwa. She was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.

In 2017, Siwa signed to Nickelodeon and acted in various television shows and films. With Nickelodeon, she released several children's songs and her own feature film, The J Team, in 2021. The music video to her song "Boomerang" has been viewed over 1 billion times on YouTube. In 2024, Siwa initiated her post-Nickelodeon career with the extended play Guilty Pleasure, led by the single "Karma". The following year, she was a contestant on the 24th series of the British reality television show Celebrity Big Brother and left the house in third place.

Early life

Joelle Joanie Siwa was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 2003, to Jessalynn Siwa (née Lombardi), a professional dance instructor from Iowa, and Tom Siwa, a chiropractor from Nebraska. Her father is of Polish descent. She has one sibling, an older brother named Jayden Siwa, who was previously also a vlogger; as of 2024 he works as a real estate agent.

Career

2013–2019: Dance Moms, breakthrough with music and Nickelodeon

Siwa started her career as a top-5 finalist and the youngest contestant on the second season of Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, produced by Abby Lee Miller of Dance Moms fame. She appeared on the show with her mother and was eliminated in week 9, having been in the bottom two with Kalani. Siwa soon began to appear on Dance Moms, beginning with auditioning for Miller's "ALDC" dance competition team in 2014 and being selected for the team in early 2015.

In May 2016, Siwa released her songs "Boomerang" and "I Can Make U Dance". "Boomerang" addresses the subject of online bullying. Its music video has been viewed over 1 billion times and received over 5 million likes. Also in 2016, Siwa released a line of hair bows in a collaboration with fashion accessory and jewelry company Claire's. The line of hair bows, which were inspired by the hair bows that were Siwa's signature accessory during this period, experienced particular success among primary school pupils in the United Kingdom, where some schools took to banning them for a variety of reasons, including peer pressure, causing distraction from work, the impairment of pupils' concentration, and violation of school dress policies. Due to the bows' popularity, some stores also began selling similar bows. Siwa commented that her bows were a "symbol of power, confidence, believing-ness." Claire's recalled a JoJo Siwa-branded cosmetics kit product in 2019 after the FDA issued a warning about it containing dangerous levels of asbestos.

Siwa signed with Nickelodeon in 2017, appearing in the film Blurt! with Jace Norman and the show Lip Sync Battle Shorties with Nick Cannon. Siwa partnered with the American department store J. C. Penney in 2018 to release a line of accessories, bedroom decor, and a doll made in her likeness, and has released several books aimed at young children. In 2018, Siwa was named the Breakout Artist of the Year by Vivid Seats. Siwa then announced that she would be going on her first major concert tour in 2019, entitled D.R.E.A.M. The Tour. She was scheduled to visit a total of 52 cities across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The tour was scheduled to begin in Phoenix, Arizona on May 17 and conclude in Vancouver, British Columbia on August 20.

2020–2023: Continued television work and other ventures

In 2020, Siwa competed in season three of The Masked Singer as "T-Rex". At the age of sixteen, she was the youngest contestant to appear on the show until Honey Boo Boo performed as one half of "Beach Ball" in season six and later Marsai Martin as "Woodpecker" in season twelve. Siwa appeared as a playable character in the 2020 video game Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix, as well at its 2022 sequel Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway. She was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in September 2020 and on Fast Company's Queer 50 list in 2021.

In 2021, Siwa competed on the thirtieth season of Dancing with the Stars, in which she was part of the first same-sex dancing partnership in the show's history. She and her partner, Jenna Johnson, ultimately placed 2nd. She was one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2021. In January 2021, the board game JoJo's Juice, marketed for children aged 6 and above, was withdrawn from sales by game makers Nickelodeon and Spin Master after a controversy over the game's content, which included questions about nudity and being arrested. Siwa responded that month, stating that she was not informed about the game's questions, and opined that "my name and my image have been used to promote this board game that has some really inappropriate content … I was really, really, really upset at how gross these questions were". In the same year, General Mills started producing a breakfast cereal called JoJo Siwa Strawberry Bop, consisting of strawberry-flavored sweetened corn puffs with marshmallows shaped like yellow and white stars, pink bows, and blue hearts.

On April 4, 2022, she was announced as a judge for the seventeenth season of So You Think You Can Dance, along with Matthew Morrison and Stephen "tWitch" Boss. In June, Siwa hosted iHeartRadio's 2022 Can't Cancel Pride event. On September 9, 2022, she was announced as the recipient of the Gamechanger Award from GLSEN for her anti-bullying advocacy efforts.

Also in 2022, Siwa had a new show on Facebook Watch called "Jojo Goes", documenting some adventures of her and her friends.

In 2023, during the seventeenth season of America's Got Talent, JoJo and Jessalyn formed the group XOMG Pop that were previously discovered on Siwa's Dance Pop Revolution who auditioned by singing "Candy Hearts". The judges were impressed and promoted them to the next round. JoJo and Jessalyn congratulated the group as JoJo told the judges that she is a big fan of AGT. JoJo and Jessalyn were in the audience during the Quarterfinals. In December 2023, Siwa performed "Step in Time" from the 1964 movie Mary Poppins on the primetime CBS special Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic.

2024–2025: First rebrand, "gay pop" controversy, and Guilty Pleasure

On January 26, 2024, she was announced to be returning as a judge for the eighteenth season of So You Think You Can Dance, replacing Nigel Lythgoe, who had earlier announced his withdrawal from the upcoming season. In February 2024, Siwa and her mother were alleged to have mistreated members of XOMG! Pop by subjecting members to grueling rehearsal schedules that left little time for school and promoting an unhealthily competitive working environment.

Siwa debuted her post-Nickelodeon image at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards, to which she wore a black mesh bodysuit, a fauxhawk, and makeup inspired by American rock band Kiss. At the event, she compared her rebrand to that of Miley Cyrus in 2013 ahead of the release of Cyrus' fourth studio album, Bangerz. Gene Simmons said that "she looks cool." Charlie Duncan of PinkNews described it as a "fairly jarring rebrand", while Sydney Brasil of Exclaim! opined that "she looks the same as she once did, just in darker colors." The look became an internet meme.

On April 5, 2024, Siwa released her official debut single as an adult artist, "Karma", which received mostly negative reviews and generated online backlash. Siwa called "Karma" her "first breakout adult moment" after performing for eleven years with a child-friendly image. In an interview with Billboard, she expressed a desire to "start a new genre of music ... It's called gay pop." Following viral backlash and negative criticism from queer musicians Tegan and Sara, Siwa clarified her position in a later interview. "I am not the inventor of gay pop, for sure not. ... I might not be the president, but I might be the CEO, or the CMO." She also denounced online critiques of her comments, adding, "I could say I want world peace. And everyone would be like, 'how dare you want peace for the world.' It'll blow up."

In July 2024, she released her fourth EP, titled Guilty Pleasure. The fourth track from the project, "Choose Ur Fighter", was released as a single with an accompanying music video on January 1 the following year. In June 2025, Daily Mirror reported Siwa had been dropped from Columbia Records.