JoJo Siwa is facing controversy after releasing her new song “Karma.” People are accusing her of stealing her latest single from another artist and falsely claiming she wrote it herself.
Siwa first became popular because of the reality TV show Dance Moms and was extra memorable because of the bright colors, signature side ponytail, and big hair bows she wore at the time.
After leaving Dance Moms, Siwa maintained her child-like persona (at least publicly) for a few years but recently started stepping into a more grown-up (and age-appropriate) personality.
Between her stint on Dancing With the Stars, coming out as pansexual, and frankly changing her hair and personal style, this has all done a lot to age up her public persona.
But that wasn’t enough.
Siwa follows in the footsteps of other child stars, taking her look and sound in the opposite direction of what she’s known for.
We’ve seen this formula play out over and over again with young stars like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Demi Lovato channeling more “edgy” sounds and looks to tell the world, “I’m not a kid anymore.”
Siwa’s now ditched the rainbow colors and bows for a KISS-inspired look (complete with stark black makeup) that’s Gene Simmons-approved. And her sound went from self-empowerment to scorned lover in her new song, “Karma,” which dropped last week.
And she’s facing heat for “Karma” with some people saying two things. One: she claims to have written the song but didn’t. And two: she stole it from singer and songwriter Brit Smith, who recorded it back in the early 2010s.
Several TikTok users slammed Siwa for “lying” about writing the song.
“Didn’t she say she wrote it years ago but wasn’t ready to sing those lyrics,” one TikTok commenter said.
“Gurllll said she wrote it [crying emoji],” another wrote.
“This is the SECOND song on this album that’s been proven JoJo didn’t write [frowning emoji],” a third said.
However, We scoured the internet (social media, articles, and interviews from legit news sources) and didn’t find any proof that Siwa claimed she wrote “Karma.”
In an interview with Billboard, Siwa discusses the process—noting that she didn’t resonate with the lyrics, “I was a bad girl,” when she received the song at 18 years old. She and her team discussed potentially changing the lyrics. However, Siwa decided to stick with the original.
She never claimed to have written the song.
In fact (no shade), she is clearly not listed on the song’s writing credits. Instead, it lists Siwa as the song performer and three others as the writers: Desmond Child, Antonina Armato, and Tim James.
All major streaming platforms list credits alongside a song, making the information easily accessible to listeners (and internet sleuths). And singing a song written by other people is super common. Some of the most popular musical talents in the world—like Rihanna, Celine Dion, and Frank Sinatra—interpreted the works of other talented songwriters, instead choosing to stick to vocals and performance.
OK, onto the second accusation that she stole the song from Brit Smith. An allegedly unreleased music video has surfaced of Brit Smith singing “Karma’s a Bitch” with lyrics like Siwa’s “Karma.”
Fans have been filming their reactions on TikTok, flabbergasted by what’s going on.
@lpvalerio16 #stitch with @chrs Now jojo…. Brit deserves better. #justiceforbritsmith #fyp #jojo #karma ♬ Karma – JoJo Siwa
“I’ve never heard of brit smith and this song has only been on YouTube for a day and has a full music video. What is going on?” another asked.
Another TikToker explained the alleged timeline, saying the song was originally recorded by Miley Cyrus in 2011 but scrapped it. They then claim that Smith recorded it in 2012 to be released as a single, and there was even promo teasing it, but that also got scrapped.
“Tbh its really just a testiment to good songwriting if a song like Karma that’s already been living for [more] than 12 years can pass as a new release. I say its a good day for the songwriters,” the TikToker said in the caption.
While it doesn’t seem Smith has publicly said anything about the situation, she did recently repost a fan on her Instagram story who said Smith’s original version was “sooo much better” and that she should have had a bigger and longer career in music.
Smith reposted the story with a sticker reading “Thank you so much.” Seems like she agrees with her fan.
Now, did Siwa steal the song? We don’t know for sure, and she hasn’t released a statement addressing it. It’s possible she purchased the rights to the song so she could rerecord it. It’s also possible that she didn’t know another artist sang it before her.
The Daily Dot reached out to Siwa for comment through her representatives via email and to Smith via Instagram direct message.
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