JoJo Siwa's "Karma"

About

JoJo Siwa's "Karma" is a pop song by American dancer, singer, actor and YouTuber JoJo Siwa released on April 5th, 2024. Siwa began teasing the song on social media, along with a career transition from being a children's entertainer to focusing on a more mature audience, in March 2024, posting numerous dance and behind-the-scenes videos regarding the track. The song and Siwa's departure from kid's content were largely criticized online before its full release as being cringeworthy, inspiring a dance meme on TikTok in which people do exaggerated versions of her dance. Following the full release of the song, Siwa inspired controversy online by claiming she invented a new genre of music called gay pop and claiming "Karma" is a gay pop song.

Origin

On March 11th, 2024, JoJo Siwa began rolling out an advertisement campaign for her new song "Karma," which marks her career transition from children's content to content for a more mature audience.^[1] Over the next few weeks, Siwa posted numerous behind-the-scenes photos and videos of what appears to be the filming of the "Karma" music video, using the instrumental from the song in the background of the videos.

On March 18th, Siwa posted a behind-the-scenes video to TikTok^[2] in which she revealed more of the song, including a portion of the lyrics, garnering over 9.9 million views in two weeks. That day, she also posted a one-minute-long clip of the song to YouTube,^[3] garnering over 1.2 million views in the same span of time (shown below).

She continued to use this song clip in further videos, some of which showcase her dancing to the song. For example, on March 19th, 2024, she posted a video to TikTok^[4] dancing to the song that gained over 15 million views in the same span of time (shown below).

I was a bad girl, I did some bad things
I swear I did it all for fun and it meant nothing
It never happened, it was a secret
Like when a tree falls in the forest, no one hears it
Another late night, another crazy mood
And I didn't think twice what it would do to you
I was a wild child, you always knew it
It was a matter of time before I blew it.

Karma's a bitch, I should've known better
If I had a wish I would've never effed around
When I saw the pics of you and hеr I felt the knife twist
Karma's a bitch, and shе's with you right now

Spread

The original sound for Siwa's "Karma" preview was used over 17,000 times in two weeks, largely in videos critiquing the song and Siwa's career transition. On March 19th, 2024, TikToker^[5] @yourmom.1834 posted a meme using a clip of Siwa dancing to the song, garnering over 9.4 million views in two weeks (shown below, left). On March 20th, TikToker^[6] @ethanp0iss0n posted a meme making fun of Siwa's attempt at rebranding herself as edgy, garnering over 10.7 million views in two weeks (shown below, right).

On March 27th, Siwa announced that "Karma" would release on April 5th, 2024.^[11]

"Karma" Dance Choreography Trend

JoJo Siwa's dancing in a number of videos advertising "Karma" became the subject of memes and criticism on TikTok and other platforms as Siwa continued to post them. For example, on March 22nd, 2024, TikToker^[7] @chenlesblckgf posted a video doing an exaggerated version of the dance, garnering over 5.2 million views in a week (shown below, left). On March 28th, JoJo posted a video to TikTok^[8] doing the dance once again, which gained over 15 million views in four days (shown below, right).

On March 31st, TikToker^[9] @ayesebastien posted a video in which he and his girlfriend do the dance, garnering over 7.7 million views in a day (shown below).

Release

On April 5th, JoJo Siwa released the full version of "Karma" alongside a music video, garnering over 14 million views on YouTube in four days (shown below).

Critical Reception

On March 30th, 2024, Medium^[10] user Mackenzie Amanda Darnielle posted a negative review of the "Karma" preview, calling it, "a disgrace to human existence itself."

Brit Smith Version Of 'Karma'

On April 6th, 2024, a day after the release of the song, TikToker @adamtheflop made a video describing how a version of "Karma" had originally been written and recorded in 2012. The writers were the group Rock Mafia, who reportedly penned the track for Miley Cyrus.^[12] But after Cyrus passed on recording the track, singer Brit Smith sang a version of it and even recorded a music video. However, the Brit Smith version of Karma was never publicly released and so the rights to the song stayed with the record company, which gave it to JoJo Siwa after over a decade on the shelf. The video by @adamtheflop (seen below) received over 7.4 million views and 774,000 likes in two weeks.^[13]

Brit Smith's version of the song was released shortly after, where it vaulted to number three (as of April 16th, 2024) on the iTunes music charts.^[14] TikTok posters created side-by-side comparisons of the two songs and music videos, arguing that Brit Smith's version was better. Britt Smith's version also appeared to be outperforming Siwa's in streams and sales. Smith's TikTok expressing gratitude for the success (seen below left) earned over 3 million likes and 16 million views in two days on April 16th.^[17] A clip from an interview describing the story of the song (seen below right) posted by Smith's account earned over 6.4 million views and 700,000 likes in six days after being posted on April 12th.^[18]

@laurenelizabeth0222 (seen below left) earned over 2.5 million views and 295,000 likes in one day for posting a skit comparing Siwa to Smith on April 17th.^[15] @dvs_now posted a side-by-side comparison of the two music videos on April 10th, earning over 5,400 likes and 196,000 views in a week.^[16]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References