Jojo Siwa Breaks Down 'Dance Moms' Days, Coming Out to the Public & Rebranding with 'Karma'
Jojo Siwa looks back on the moments that shaped her career and reflects on her journey to finding her place in the entertainment industry. From getting her start with 'Dance Moms' where she actually "liked to get yelled at" by Abby Lee Miller to pushing the limits with her new music like 'Karma' and 'Guilty Pleasure,' Jojo breaks down some of the most memorable highlights from her life.
Jojo Siwas debut EP, Guilty Pleasure, releases July 12.
Jojo Siwas debut EP, Guilty Pleasure, releases July 12.
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00:00I think that the world right now is watching every move I make
00:05with the most critical eye.
00:07And I think something that I'm really grateful for is I don't give a s**t.
00:11Hey everybody, I am JoJo Siwa,
00:13and today I'm going to be looking back at some of the moments
00:15that have shaped my career and my identity.
00:18This is Becoming JoJo Siwa.
00:20She's just so tiny!
00:31What I love so much about watching clips from AUDC
00:34is genuinely how young and tiny I was.
00:39I mean, nine years old, my first TV show, I was a peanut.
00:45It like makes me emotional.
00:47You don't even know what you got yourself into there.
00:49Now you're stuck, kid.
00:51It's interesting because I didn't really realize
00:54that I didn't have a normal childhood
00:56until my childhood was over, if that makes sense.
01:00Because it was, to me, it was my normal.
01:02And kids are so naive.
01:04You don't really know what's happening.
01:05And I think at the very end of my childhood,
01:07so like 16, 17, I was like, wait a second.
01:10This is what high school was like for you?
01:12What? That's not what high school was like for me.
01:14I feel like it really shaped me to be who I am.
01:17I don't wish it was any different.
01:19I realized that there was stuff that I missed out on
01:22or stuff that I didn't get to do
01:23or stuff that was different for me,
01:24but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
01:27Nowadays, I think it's definitely evolved
01:31over the last 11 years where I just saw this clip
01:33on my way over here of this little boy.
01:35He's four years old and he was like,
01:36I'm marrying my best friend one day.
01:38The person in the video was like,
01:39oh, who are you marrying?
01:40And the little boy was like, my friend Jack.
01:42He's really cool.
01:44And I was like, for a four-year-old
01:45to be able to say that now,
01:47it was a four-year-old little boy
01:48saying that he was gonna marry a four-year-old little boy.
01:50Like that just, it was precious
01:52because obviously they're not thinking
01:53of all the things that come with it,
01:55but it was okay for him to just like
01:57think he's marrying another boy.
01:58Whereas at this point in time, when I was nine,
02:00it was like, what boy do you have a crush on?
02:02Not, oh, who do you have a crush on?
02:04You know what I mean?
02:05I think if it would have been more normalized,
02:07I definitely would have been a little,
02:09a little gay rat at nine years old,
02:11but it wasn't normalized yet.
02:13So I'm still very straight at this time.
02:17She deserves to be on the pyramid.
02:18She was in the group dance.
02:19She deserves nothing.
02:22Oh yeah, I love this clip.
02:24It's weird because I feel like people see dance moms, right?
02:26And they're like, oh, Abby's such a mean dance teacher.
02:29Abby's just a realistic dance teacher.
02:31She is representation of a lot of dance teachers
02:35in the world.
02:36It's the competitive dance world, especially,
02:38is not the healthiest environment.
02:39And I always say you're either a good dancer
02:41or you're healthy, you can't be both.
02:43That's sad, it shouldn't be like that.
02:45And there's a lot of teachers that aren't like that,
02:47but growing up, I mean, Abby was, believe it or not,
02:50not my toughest, hardest dance teacher.
02:54I mean, I came into dance moms as a massive fan.
02:57And so being a fan of Abby,
02:58I knew what I was getting myself into.
02:59And I was like, please y'all let me like,
03:01I kind of liked it.
03:03Even like to this day,
03:05I'll have my mom watch performance.
03:06I'll be like, did you like it?
03:07And she'll be like, yeah.
03:08And I'll be like, okay, now tell me what was wrong with it.
03:10And I thrive off of criticism, off of hard push.
03:16That's how I can become my best, is by brutal honesty.
03:20âȘ I'ma come back like a boomerang âȘ
03:25If only we knew what Boomerang was gonna do for my career.
03:27Boomerang is such a power anthem in not a cheesy way.
03:33That was the original goal with the song,
03:35was to make a song that was inspiring,
03:37that was powerful, that was anti-bullying,
03:39but not cheesy and not annoying.
03:41You know what I mean?
03:42And some may say Boomerang is cheesy and annoying.
03:44I wouldn't say that.
03:45And if somebody does, well,
03:46then maybe they need a different type of powerful song.
03:48But it's cool to me that Boomerang is still as successful
03:52as it was when it came out.
03:54If not more successful.
03:55I mean, the fact that it grows so much a day,
03:58it's truly that like, haters gonna hate.
04:01They can keep talking about Todd,
04:02but I'm gonna keep walking my walk.
04:03Honestly, I found out that Boomerang had a billion views.
04:06I checked it all the time for the last few months
04:09because it's always been getting close.
04:11And I was like, if it just spikes one day,
04:12like, it could hit it.
04:14All of a sudden, one day I wake up from a text from my dad.
04:17I wake up to a text from my dad.
04:19Congrats on a billion views.
04:20I was like, oh, it must've hit it.
04:22My dad fully gave me the spoiler.
04:24It's crazy. It's crazy.
04:25Hi!
04:28Hi, Jo.
04:29You look so cute!
04:30Oh, little Miss Miss Westy.
04:32I found out that North was a fan back in the day
04:35because Kim had tweeted something.
04:37I saw it in rehearsals.
04:38I was 14 or 15 at the time.
04:41I just, like, shot my shot with Kim.
04:43And I was like, if North ever wanted to, like, do a video.
04:45I used to do this thing where I would, like,
04:47babysit kids on YouTube.
04:49And so I would babysit Everly or babysit Tamen Oakley
04:52or mini Jake Paul or mini JoJo Siwa, Titus and Riot.
04:55And I was like, it takes an hour.
04:56It's a lot of fun.
04:57I'll make sure North has the best day ever.
04:59And Kim was like, oh my God, we would love that.
05:01Can we film it for my show?
05:03And I was like, your show?
05:04It's Keeping Up with Kardashian?
05:06Sure, I guess.
05:07We'll see if I can make that work.
05:08We'll see if I can swing it.
05:10And yeah, that turned out to be one
05:11of the greatest days of my life.
05:13I remember they came over.
05:14Paparazzi followed them over.
05:16It was nuts.
05:16They came in.
05:17We did our thing.
05:18They left.
05:19And when they left, me and my camera guy
05:21just, like, looked at each other.
05:22We were like, what the fuck just happened?
05:24Like, what?
05:25I live for this.
05:29Fabulous!
05:30I will never forget after we did that and North
05:32sprinkled it everywhere.
05:33We cut the cameras.
05:34Kim Kardashian, North's mom, was like, where's your broom?
05:38I'll sweep this up.
05:38I was like, absolutely not, Cinderella.
05:40You will not sweep my floor, Kim Kardashian.
05:42Get out of here.
05:42I'll do it when you leave.
05:46So honestly, I posted the Best Gay Cousin shirt
05:49before I posted it publicly.
05:52But I put it on my close friend's story.
05:54Because honestly, for me, that was kind of the easiest
05:56way to come out to people.
05:57I didn't want people to ask me if I had a crush on a boy
05:59ever again.
05:59So I was like, people need to know.
06:01So I just chucked it on my close friend's story
06:02so I could come out to my friends.
06:03There was a lot of speculation at this point
06:05in time in the world of, is JoJo gay?
06:07Is JoJo straight?
06:07Is JoJo gay?
06:08Is JoJo straight?
06:09And then I was on the phone with my girlfriend, 2 AM.
06:11And I was like, babe, I think I want
06:13to put this on my public page.
06:14And she was like, OK, do it.
06:16I did it.
06:16I fell asleep.
06:17I woke up the next morning and was like, whoa.
06:20I don't think I really realized what I was doing,
06:24if that makes sense.
06:25I look back now, and I'm only three years older,
06:28four years older.
06:28And I look back, and I'm like, whoa.
06:30You were, number one, a baby.
06:33But number two, for a 17-year-old
06:35to know that and do that and be brave enough
06:38to do that blows my mind now.
06:39Whereas at the time, I was just like, yeah,
06:41this is who I am post-share.
06:43I'm happy.
06:43And if you care, that's your fault, not mine.
06:45Being so naive to the negativity that came with it
06:48was honestly such a blessing in disguise.
06:51I think a lot of times, it's confused sexuality and sex
06:56life.
06:57That's why it's mistaken that little kids can't be gay,
07:00because you're thinking the wrong things.
07:02You're not at this point in time.
07:04I'm 17.
07:05I'm thinking, oh, man, my girlfriend's so pretty.
07:07I can't wait to hold her hand today.
07:09Like, that's what we were thinking.
07:10You know, you're thinking innocent things.
07:11I think that's something that's so sweet,
07:13and that I got to come out at that age in that persona.
07:16And people actually got to look at me
07:18and not see an adult who's been waiting their whole life
07:21to bang a girl.
07:22They got to see a kid come out, be proud, be happy,
07:26be open about thinking girls are awesome, and move on with life.
07:30Honestly, right after I came out,
07:32getting the ask to be a part of Dancing With The Stars
07:35was massive.
07:36Getting to be the first same-sex couple,
07:40I don't think I, at the time, necessarily
07:42realized what that was going to do for the world
07:44or the impact that that was going to have.
07:46But it truly was.
07:47It was one of the first times that the world as a whole
07:51actually really appreciated me.
07:55And I think that's what I'm most proud of.
07:57Actually really appreciated me on social media,
08:00I guess is a good way to put it.
08:01I mean, the world shits on me daily on social media.
08:04But with Dancing With The Stars, it was kind of a flip.
08:06People were tuning in weekly to see
08:10what Jenna and I were going to do.
08:11The representation that that had,
08:14at the time, I didn't realize what it was.
08:15But now I'm like, wow, that's massive.
08:18I loved the Argentine tango because it was very intimate,
08:22but not as dramatic as the rumba was.
08:25But it wasn't as just frivolous as the cha-cha was.
08:28You had to be dialed in, you had to be controlled.
08:30And Jenna and I had to make sure
08:31we had that believable chemistry.
08:34And we did.
08:35Jenna did not let me slack at all that week.
08:37She was like, this is our redemption dance.
08:39We are redeeming ourselves.
08:40We didn't really have to redeem ourselves
08:42because our Argentine tango before was great.
08:44But that dance, ugh,
08:47honestly is my favorite from the season.
08:48âȘ Karma's a bitch, I should've known better âȘ
08:54I love Karma so much,
08:58but it's so bad compared to my new stuff.
09:01It's, I hate now that I shade Karma so much,
09:05but looking back and comparing it to Guilty Pleasure,
09:08comparing it to Choose Your Fighter,
09:10it's not even on the same playing field.
09:12We knew back in the day that visually,
09:14people liked my bows, people liked my crazy outfits,
09:17people liked when I danced, they liked when I performed,
09:19they liked my music videos, they liked my stories,
09:22they liked that.
09:23So we didn't know if that was going to translate
09:24into an adult world.
09:25But then if you look at what was successful about Karma,
09:29it was the dance from the music video,
09:31the makeup and costume from the music video.
09:34I mean, even like the me coming out of the water
09:36in the music video,
09:37like those moments from the music video are what hit.
09:41And so it was really tried and true to me that like,
09:43no, I really am visual
09:45and people really do crave visuals
09:47from me as an entertainer, as an artist.
09:49And so here I am to keep providing them.
09:51So Jake Paul back in the day used to do this thing
09:53and he taught me this.
09:54He would run with whatever was working
09:56and that's with Karma, you know, what was working.
09:58All of a sudden the teasers were working.
09:59So I was like, oh, fuck that.
10:00I'm going to keep teasing, right?
10:02Oh, me being a lunatic is working.
10:04I'm going to keep being a lunatic, but be even crazier.
10:06Oh, the makeup's working.
10:07Let's do more with the makeup.
10:09Oh, the dance is working.
10:10Let's do the dance more.
10:11And so for me, it was really important
10:12to kind of follow what was working,
10:14but then also not let the world decide what worked
10:19at the same time.
10:20Making sure that I'm giving the world
10:23what I want them to want, if that makes sense.
10:26It's less about, you know, having a hit song,
10:29but more about having a hit career.
10:31Giving people something to look at, turn their head at.
10:33I know, considering I only got basically
10:36one vocal cord instead of two,
10:38that I don't have the vocal chops
10:40to just be able to stand there and sing.
10:42But I know that I can put on a show
10:44and entertain and do a little bit more.
10:46âȘ I'm your guilty pleasure âȘ
10:52We did the damn thing.
10:54Oh, this new EP, Get Ready.
10:55There is so many whack visions
10:59that I had to fight to make come to life,
11:02but I made them happen.
11:04And I am so happy.
11:06I think that the world right now
11:08is watching every move I make with the most critical eye.
11:13And I think something that I'm really grateful for
11:15is I don't give a fuck.
11:16I'm like, okay, do it.
11:19I'm still gonna keep pushing.
11:20Honestly, I didn't know if it was gonna be possible
11:25because I loved Karma so much.
11:28I was like, what am I gonna do now?
11:30And now I'm like, well, Karma,
11:32you were fun while you lasted.
11:34Guilty pleasure, you're my baby now.
11:36This outfit is my baby now.
11:37I mean, I've never been so happy to be so filthy dirty.
11:41Something that was fun for me on set of Guilty Pleasure
11:43was obviously I dance with girl, girls now.
11:47That's who I like, that's what I like.
11:48And so that's very comfortable for me.
11:51But in Guilty Pleasure, I was like, you know what?
11:52No, I wanna be straight for a moment here.
11:56And what's so funny is when we were filming,
11:58getting to partner with the boy, his name is Diego,
12:02versus the girl, Madison.
12:04For some reason, me and Diego,
12:08it was so fascinating to watch us dance together.
12:11Me and Madison have great chemistry.
12:12Me and Diego have great chemistry.
12:14But watching me with a boy for the first time,
12:16and I think that's what it was.
12:18It was like for a boy for the first time,
12:19we were like, huh, that oddly looks really flattering.
12:25That's very strange.
12:26And we also got to see me in the girl's position
12:28for the first time,
12:29because normally if I'm partnering with a girl,
12:30I am the boy in the position.
12:32So it's chaotic, but it is so fun.
12:36There's a song called Choose Your Fighter, right?
12:39And so there's a lyric in there.
12:40It's actually an ad-lib and it says,
12:41some of my exes are no one.
12:43Some of my exes have fame.
12:45And then there's an ad-lib that says, you're welcome.
12:48And it's a little whisper of you're welcome.
12:50And that is my kryptonite.
12:52Also another song on the EP called Balance Baby.
12:55It goes, I like twirling in the ballroom,
12:58twerking in the bedroom.
13:00Something about that lyric fulfills all my dreams,
13:05because it's true.
13:06Thank you so much to them.
13:07That was Becoming JoJo Siwa.
13:10Thank you.