As Abby Lee Miller once said, “Jojo! Have you learned nothing?” What once was a loveable, energetic TV personality is now the laughingstock of the internet. After teasing her new song all of March, she released “Karma” on April 5. When doing press for the song, she expressed how proud she was of her songwriting. Recently, however, evidence suggests the song was not written by Siwa and has supposedly been around for a decade.
According to Forbes, the song was written by a songwriting duo named Rock Mafia. The song was intended for Miley Cyrus in 2012 but was passed on to a pop star with a little less fame, Brit Smith. Smith recorded the song and even produced a music video but neither the song nor the video were ever released. After the release of Siwa’s version of the song, Smith’s unreleased video resurfaced and fans were livid to see that Siwa never helped with the writing aspect of the piece, after giving off that impression.
“This song is so special and a part of my life in such a massive way and such a big picture,” Siwa said in a recent interview with Billboard. “The song does sound like a 2010 record, it does, and that was the goal. There was a point in time where it sounded a little too 2010. We reigned it in; we found the mix of 2024 and 2010 to make it that same style to fit more into today’s world.”
Ironically, when comparing “Karma” to a song from the 2010s, Siwa forgets to mention the song was written and recorded in the 2010s. Although Siwa never directly claims she was involved in the songwriting process, she goes on to discuss how many versions of “Karma” she recorded, some sounding entirely different than what was released. However, the only difference in lyrics between Siwa’s final production and Smith’s version is the lyric “messed around” was changed to “effed around.”
“Jojo’s rebrand is certainly bold and different,” sophomore Maeda Bradbury said. “Some people, including me, think her edgy style and music video is hideous and repulsive. People are definitely more upset she led everyone to believe she wrote, or even assisted in writing, a song that was made a decade ago. I think this shows more than anything bias. I did not like one bit of Jojo’s song or video, but after hearing Brit Smith’s rendition, I liked it a lot more.”
According to Today, as of April 16, Smith’s rendition of “Karma” rose to number three on the iTunes top pop song chart while Siwa’s was at number 64. This could be a result of the negative feedback from the music video, or simply from fans preferring Smith’s voice over Siwa’s.
“Although I know the music video isn’t for everyone, I don’t think anyone is mad at Jojo for expressing herself in it,” sophomore Lorelai Wright said. “For me, at least, I am frustrated Jojo thought she was inventing a new genre of music. For one, the song is neutral in that it could be about a man or a woman. Not to mention she thought she was inventing gay pop when artists like Lady Gaga, Chappell Roan, Girl in Red, Lil Nas X and many more exist.”
