Jojo Siwa recently released her music video and song “Karma.” Siwa has released many songs before this, but they are much different.
Siwa has recently been very open about her “change.” In various interviews she expressed that this change is representing her in her “bad girl era;” this is all presented through her newest releases.
Before the song “Karma” was released, many viewed her as a role model to a young audience, some even recognized her as a “KIDZ BOP star.” An anonymous student explained, “I usually thought of her older career choices, such as Dance Moms or her music videos from when she was a kid. I would also imagine seeing her wearing lots of accessories, lots of bright colors, bows, etc. Overall just very child friendly and more coded for a children’s audience.”
When digging deeper into her song, one line says, “I was a bad girl, I did some bad things.” Siwa is very clear in informing her audience of these adult-like changes she is experiencing. A couple of lines later Siwa sings, “It was a matter of time before I blew it”. One WHS student said, “She is trying for a completely new image and blowing up her old image and it did not work out for the best….”
After her music video was released, the majority of students claimed that they felt her audience had shifted from ages
8-9 to 17+. I believe that this music video was Siwa’s way of shifting her audience quickly.
Siwa is widely known for her role in the dance industry mainly by young children. As she navigates the adult world, she uses this song as a way to shift her audience to represent her.
This transformation shows how she is letting go of her past and moving on. Another anonymous student wrote, “I think she just wanted to stop being known as a kid with the whole bows and rainbows.”
Although the song itself was not written by Siwa, she was able to show her change through the graphics, costumes, and dancing in the video. I think that the way she executed this harms her career, and she could have done a much better job at switching her demographic audience.
Siwa’s shift was very harsh; she should have put her prior audience further into consideration first. Since her audience was mainly younger, parents could view this very inappropriately ultimately driving many away.
This is a drastic change for her, but she is not the only artist to shift her audience this way.
Other famous artists have also used this technique for the same reason. Miley Cyrus is a great example; she did not want people to view her as Hannah Montana anymore and wanted people to see her as the adult she was.
Cyrus began dropping jaw-dropping videos to quickly shift her audience from children to teens and adults. In hopes of having the same effect on her audience as Cyrus, Siwa created “Karma” which brought out the same reaction.
The tonal shift in her music will allow Siwa to branch out more freely on the internet and in the process she will also branch out to a larger demographic. I personally believe that she was successful in quickly shifting her audience, but she definitely lost many supporters through the way she executed her “bad girl change.”
My overall rating of the music video: ★★
