OK, I Did Not Hate JoJo Siwa on ‘Call Her Daddy’

Like most of the internet, I’ve been horrified by JoJo Siwa‘s rebrand. I don’t know why she’s dancing like that; I don’t know why she’s dressing like Gene Simmons yet doesn’t know who he is; I don’t know why she thinks she’s the first in her generation to make a dramatic switch or why she thinks Elvis is the first artist who was “not be afraid to be different.” I still don’t know the answers to these questions! But after listening to her Call Her Daddy interview, I am willing to give JoJo Siwa the benefit of the doubt.

“I am giving the world art, and they might not like it, they might hate it, but they’re enjoying it and it’s become a bit of a guilty pleasure for everyone,” Siwa told Alex Cooper about the internet’s intense reaction to her new single, Karma, and its music video. “It is doing exactly what I wanted it to do. I wanted people’s heads to turn, I wanted people to go ‘What?” I wanted people to go, ‘What is she saying?'” Which, truly, mission accomplished JoJo.

The whole “I am giving the world art” made me wince but overall, she comes off as a shockingly well-adjusted and very self-aware 20-year-old who considers social media a big, fun game and does seem to know exactly what she’s doing. I went into the interview ready to collect more quotes like the Elvis one to share with my group chat but I walked away with a lot of respect for her—and was reminded that she is still 20. There are things I said when I was 19, 20, and 21 that were so dumb and annoying, you could not pay me a million dollars to make them public today.

At one point Cooper asked, “Why do you think people on the Internet have such strong opinions on you?” and JoJo replied, “Because it’s fun.” Fair! It is! She added that public opinion also never bothered her growing up because “I was doing what I love to do, I was getting to perform. I was getting to be Hannah Montana, that’s what I always wanted.”

She definitely has a lot of cringe-y one-liners throughout the nearly two-hour interview that will undoubtedly be shared on TikTok, like how she refuses to do karaoke “unless there’s Slim Shady” and then she’ll “sing the whole song.” And she says her dream partner is a stay-at-home wife (problematic??) and that she’ll never take herself too seriously because “we only get one of these things we call life,” which felt like she was doing a parody of TikTok comedian Mitsy doing a parody of her.

But she also talked about being the breadwinner of her family at such a young age, a traumatic situation from a past relationship in which her security team had to get involved, and shared a gross story of a Nickelodeon president telling her to call the network’s retail partners after she came out at 17 in order to “reassure them that you’re not going crazy.” (Thankfully, the partners were very excited and proud of her.)

I especially felt called out when she noted that millennials are the age group that makes fun of her the most: “Because when I was 16, you were 25 and you were like, ‘What the fuck is that 16-year-old doing,’ so it’s so understandable.” Since JoJo is seemingly dying to be the first artist to do something, I’ll say that she’s definitely the first to give grace and understanding to asshole 25-year-olds.

Finally, she said the biggest misconception about herself is that “I have somebody telling me what to do at every level.” She assured anyone who thinks “her team needs to stop,” that it’s all “me and I ain’t stopping any time soon.” I feel a little threatened but good for her.

I will not be adding Karma to any playlists but I am happy for this rich, confident, and seemingly stable young woman as she continues to live out her dreams. I will, at the very least, stop sharing mean TikToks about her for the time being.

• Blake Lively and Kate Hudson‘s siblings admit they’re jealous of their fame. I see that but that also feels like you’d get all the perks without all the public scrutiny! [Page Six]
• Gwen Stefani says she and Blake Shelton are not getting divorced. Noted. [E! News]
• Jessica Alba announced she’s stepping down as CCO of her multi-million dollar company, the Honest Company. Could this mean a Honey remake?! [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Here is your latest Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce story. [People]
• Louis Tomlinson says no, he and Harry Styles were never secret lovers. Also noted. [US Weekly]