By: Lucy Van Meir ’25
Child dance star turned singer Jojo Siwa recently dropped her son “Karma” which she claims signifies her switch from children’s audiences to more adult-focused media. The artist followed the footsteps of celebrities before her who took on the task of ditching their childish fame for mainstream work.
Siwa is known for starring in the reality television show “Dance Moms” for two seasons from 2015 to 2016. Many of the children from the show went on to release music or other projects as their initial fame would only last as long as they were on the show. Most of these projects were geared towards fellow children so they could retain the audience from the show and set up a career independent from the show.
Like fellow “Dance Moms” alum, Siwa released pop songs with colorful music videos showing off her dance capabilities and started building her audience. Siwa was known for her bows and hairstyles on the show and went on to create a bow line as well as other merchandise similarly advertised to children.
This year, however, Siwa teased a new era of her projects in which she wore outfits reminiscent of 1970’s Kiss and traded her colorful bows for all-black ensembles. Her new song, “Karma”, would be her first explicit song and vastly different than any of her previous work.
When the song and music video were released, audiences were shocked by the almost vulgar nature and stark contrast to her persona even a few months ago. Siwa had done one of the best jobs maintaining her fame after her time on the show largely due to her work continuing to appeal to child audiences. To drop her audience by making something entirely different than what the world knows her for seems drastic, but many others have done it before.
Siwa follows in the footsteps of other child stars who attempt to distance themselves from a child-locked career by dramatically switching their work. Stars like Miley Cyrus and Bella Thorne got their fame from child-actor-style work, but when they got tired of that audience, they threw themselves into extreme adult content to distance themselves from their past.
Even some like Daniel Radcliffe and the Sprouse twins had similar career trajectories in which they seemed to do a 180 to create an image for themselves outside their early success.
The reason stars like this will sometimes make such dramatic changes instead of a gradual one is because their previous fame would then always taint their recent work. When these artists make a statement in their projects, they forcefully open a new chapter of their lives and force a new image of themselves onto the public so they can get away from their childhood fame.
While these switches can backfire and impact the artists negatively, usually it works how the celebrity wants and pushes them back into the spotlight in a new way.
Siwa, for instance, is certainly back on the public’s radar, perhaps even more so than when she focused on children’s media. How this move impacts the future of her career is left to be seen.
While the path she follows has seen success, some worry she doesn’t have the level of fame necessary to make whatever switch she wants. Can her career survive without a children’s audience? As the star embraces her new era, the world will see if it is truly sustainable, or if she just forced herself into impending irrelevancy.
THE BEAR FACTS 