JoJo Siwa
Joelle Joanie "JoJo" Siwa (/ˈsiːwɑː/; 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. In 2017, Siwa signed to Nickelodeon and acted in various shows and films. Under 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 nearly one billion times. She was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.
JoJo Siwa
- Singer
- dancer
- actress
- media personality
2013–present
Vocals • Drums
In 2024, Siwa launched her adult music career with the single "Karma" and its music video.
Other ventures
Siwa has partnered with the American department store J. C. Penney to release a line of accessories, bedroom decor, and a doll made in her likeness, and has released several books aimed at young children.[20][21]
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 Siwa is known herself for wearing, 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.[22] Due to the bows' popularity, some stores also began selling similar bows.[23] In 2017, Siwa commented that her bows were a "symbol of power, confidence, believing-ness."[23] In June 2019, the FDA issued a warning about dangerous levels of asbestos in a JoJo Siwa-branded cosmetics kit, prompting Claire's to recall the product.[24][25]
Siwa signed with Nickelodeon in 2017, appearing in the film Blurt! with Jace Norman and the show Lip Sync Battle Shorties with Nick Cannon.
In 2020, Siwa competed in season 3 of The Masked Singer as "T-Rex". At the age of 16, she was the youngest contestant to appear on the show until Honey Boo Boo performed as one half of "Beach Ball" in season 6. 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.[26]
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.[27] She and her partner, Jenna Johnson, ultimately placed 2nd.[28]
In 2021, General Mills started producing a breakfast cereal called JoJo Siwa Strawberry Bop, with Siwa prominently depicted on the box. The cereal contains strawberry-flavored sweetened corn puffs with marshmallows shaped like yellow and white stars, pink bows, and blue hearts.[29]
She was one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2021.[30]
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.[31]
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.[32]
Personal life
Siwa was in a relationship with TikTok star Mark Bontempo from August to November 2020.[33][34] Siwa came out as being part of the LGBTQ+ community on social media in January 2021. Siwa initially declined to label her sexuality.[35][36] She has since confirmed that she is not attracted to men.[37]
Siwa had an on and off relationship with Kylie Prew from February 2021 to June 2022.[38][39].[40] She dated social media content creator Avery Cyrus from August 2022 to December 2022.[41][42]
Controversies
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".[43]
In February 2024, Siwa was alleged to have mistreated members of a band named XOMG! Pop she had formed alongside her mother Jessalyn.[44]