Circular Icons

Becoming iconic for the wrong reasons 

RuPaul, Lady Gaga, Ashnikko, Troye Sivan, Hayley Kiyoko, Chappell Roan, Renee Wrapp, Kate Bush, Freddy Mercury, Elton John, David Bowie, Halsey, George Michael, Kehlani...  

These people all got onto the queer icons list for the right reasons. But I can tell you that JoJo Siwa will be immortalised in that list for all the wrong reasons. 

JoJo Siwa is a child star from the hit reality show Dance Moms. Her fame grew more with her collaboration with Nickelodeon, her hair bows, and her hit song Boomerang. JoJo’s new single Karma was released earlier this month, alongside an edgy new look. JoJo sings, “I was a bad girl, I did some bad things,” in a heavily autotuned raspy voice.  

Sporting a blonde quiff, a black and silver translucent body suit, with what looks to be fin detailing along the arms, flame detailing on the front, black combat boots, and most strikingly, black paint around her eyes and down her neck. This ain’t your grandma’s JoJo Siwa.  

My god, this transformation… it’s groundbreaking, it’s progressive, it is pushing ALL the boundaries. Gone are the days of JoJo with the bow bow, tight ponytails and hot pink. Now it’s budget Lady Gaga. 

Being an icon is something many strive for, but JoJo seems to prove you can reach icon status by being terrible. She’s so cringey that it’s wrapped back ‘round on itself and become a moment. She is a circular icon.  

I love artists expressing new looks and styles, exploring their identity and finding their sound. JoJo says she had inspiration from Lady Gaga’s early work and Miley Cyrus’s Can’t be Tamed era. 

However, I don’t believe JoJo had anything to do with her rebranding. It feels like a bunch of people sat down in a room and said, “What will the gays want?” before pushing JoJo out onto the world stage, shaking hands with one another at the amazing product (whoops I mean artist) they’ve created. 

JoJo didn’t even write the song which accompanies her new look. It was originally written for Miley Cyrus a whole 12 years ago, before being recorded and subsequently unreleased by underground artist, Brit Smith.  

Change like this just feels scripted. It just screams of trying to recreate what worked for Miley Cyrus. But this doesn’t consider the trauma behind Miley’s switch. Miley genuinely wanted to get away from her childhood image, she wasn’t doing it to try and be revolutionary, she was just bravely and boldly being herself. JoJo’s goal is to be an icon – Miley’s was not.  

But despite JoJo’s questionable music, rebranding, and interviews – I want more.  

Regardless of the corpo bullshit behind it all, I am on the edge of my seat for what she does next. She has the potential to become an icon in the music industry, so bad she’s loved by all.  

I would love to see her take this grungy era further. I want a JoJo Siwa death metal album. I want to hear high-pitched screeches of the most safe-for-work lyrics ever put to music. I want to be in the timeline where we have the JoJo Siwa x Slipknot collab.  

It could work, stranger things have happened.