JoJo Siwa

Joelle Joanie "JoJo" Siwa (/ˈsiːwɑː/; born May 19, 2003) is an American dancer, singer, actress, YouTuber, and media personality. From 2015 to 2016, she appeared on two seasons of the reality television show Dance Moms alongside her mother, Jessalynn Siwa. As a singer, she has released the singles "Boomerang" (2016) and "Kid in a Candy Store" (2017). Siwa posts daily videos of her day-to-day life on her YouTube channel, "Its JoJo Siwa".^[5] She was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.

JoJo Siwa
Siwa in September 2018
Born	Joelle Joanie Siwa (2003-05-19) May 19, 2003 (age 20)^[1] Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupations	Dancer singer Youtuber media personality
Years active	2013–present
Musical career
Genres	Pop^[2] electropop dance-pop^[3]
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Labels	JoJo Siwa Entertainment
YouTube information
Channels	Its JoJo Siwa
Years active	2015–present^[4]
Genre	Vlog
Subscribers	12.2 million
Total views	3.8 billion
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2015 1,000,000 subscribers 2016 10,000,000 subscribers 2019
Last updated: 24 July 2022
Website	itsjojosiwa.com

Early life and career

Joelle Joanie Siwa was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 2003, to Jessalynn (née Lombardi), a professional dance instructor from Iowa, and Tom Siwa, a chiropractor from Nebraska.^[6][7] She has one sibling, an older brother named Jayden Siwa, who is also a vlogger.^[8]

Siwa started her career as a top-5 finalist and the youngest contestant on the second season of Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, produced by Abby Lee Miller of Dance Moms fame.^[9] She appeared on the show with her mother and was eliminated in week 9.^[10] Siwa soon began to appear on Dance Moms, beginning with auditioning for Miller's "ALDC" dance competition team in 2014 and being selected for the team in early 2015.^[11][12]

In May 2016, Siwa released "Boomerang" for download and a previous single, "I Can Make U Dance". "Boomerang" addresses the subject of online bullying.^[11][13] Its video has been viewed more than 950 million times and received over 5 million likes. In 2018, Siwa was named the Breakout Artist of the Year by Vivid Seats.^[14]

In 2018, Siwa announced that she would be going on her first major concert tour in 2019, entitled D.R.E.A.M. The Tour. She was scheduled to visit a mixture of theaters, outdoor amphitheaters and stadiums, as well as indoor arenas in a total of 52 cities across the United States and Canada. Additionally, other performances would take place in the United Kingdom and Australia. The tour was scheduled to begin in Phoenix, Arizona on May 17. The first leg of the tour was scheduled to conclude on June 26 in Austin, Texas, before resuming for the second leg on July 10 in Orlando, Florida. The final date was scheduled for August 20 in Vancouver, Canada.^[15] She was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in September 2020^[16] and on Fast Company's Queer 50 list in 2021.^[17]

On April 4, 2022, she was announced as a judge for the seventeenth season of So You Think You Can Dance, along with Matthew Morrison and Stephen "tWitch" Boss.^[18]

On September 9, 2022, she was announced as the recipient of the Gamechanger Award from GLSEN for her anti-bullying advocacy efforts.^[19]

Other ventures

Siwa subsequently partnered with the American department store J. C. Penney to release a line of accessories, bedroom decor, and a doll made in her likeness, and has released several books aimed at young children.^[20][21]

In 2016, Siwa released a line of hair bows in a collaboration with fashion accessory and jewelry company Claire's. The line of hair bows, which were inspired by the hairbows Siwa is known herself for wearing, experienced particular success among primary school pupils in the UK, where some schools took to banning them for a variety of reasons, including peer pressure, causing distraction from work, the impairment of pupils' concentration, and violation of school dress policies.^[22] Due to the bows' popularity, some stores also began selling similar bows.^[23] In 2017, Siwa commented that her bows were a "symbol of power, confidence, believing-ness."^[23] In June 2019, the FDA issued a warning about dangerous levels of asbestos in a JoJo Siwa-branded cosmetics kit, prompting Claire's to recall the product.^[24][25]

Siwa signed with Nickelodeon in 2017, appearing in the film Blurt! with Jace Norman and the show Lip Sync Battle Shorties with Nick Cannon. Siwa later competed in season 3 of The Masked Singer as "T-Rex". At the age of 16, she was the youngest contestant to appear on the show until Honey Boo Boo performed as one half of "Beach Ball" in season 6. Siwa appeared as a playable character in the 2020 video game Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix, as well at its 2022 sequel Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway.^[26]

Siwa competed on the thirtieth season of Dancing with the Stars, in which she was part of the first same-sex dancing partnership in the show's history.^[27] She and her partner, Jenna Johnson, ultimately placed 2nd.^[28]

In January 2021, the board game Jojo's Juice, marketed for children aged 6 and above, was withdrawn from sales by game makers Nickelodeon and Spin Master after a controversy over the game's content, which included questions about nudity and being arrested. Siwa responded that month, stating that she was not informed about the game's questions, and opined that "my name and my image have been used to promote this board game that has some really inappropriate content … I was really, really, really upset at how gross these questions were".^[29]

In 2021 General Mills started producing a breakfast cereal called JoJo Siwa Strawberry Bop, with Siwa prominently depicted on the box. The cereal contains strawberry-flavored sweetened corn puffs with marshmallows shaped like yellow and white stars, pink bows, and blue hearts.^[30]

She was one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2021.^[31]

During the seventeenth season of America's Got Talent, JoJo and Jessalyn formed the group XOMG Pop that were previously discovered on Siwa's Dance Pop Revolution who auditioned by singing "Candy Hearts". The judges were impressed and promoted them to the next round. JoJo and Jessalyn congratulated the group as JoJo told the judges that she is a big fan of AGT.^[32]

Personal life

Siwa was in a relationship with TikTok star Mark Bontempo from August to November 2020.^[33][34] Siwa came out as being part of the LGBTQ+ community on social media in January 2021. When a fan then asked what her label was, Siwa added that she does not label her sexuality, as she "doesn't really know this answer".^[35][36][37] She later stated "Technically I would say that I am pansexual, because that's how I have always been my whole life is just like, my human is my human." In the same interview, Siwa mentioned that she also uses the terms "gay" and "queer".^[38] She has since confirmed that she is not attracted to men.^[39]

In February 2021, Siwa revealed that she was in a relationship with her best friend, Kylie Prew,^[40] who had asked her to be her girlfriend a month prior.^[41] After a breakup in late 2021,^[42] the two confirmed in May 2022 that they were back together.^[43] Siwa and Prew broke up for a second time in June 2022.^[44] In August 2022, Siwa began dating social media content creator Avery Cyrus.^[45] In December 2022, it was announced that Siwa and Cyrus had broken up.^[46]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition	Contestant	10 episodes
2015	The View	Herself	Performed in group dance "Together We Stand"^[47]
	Good Day L.A.	Herself	Guest^[48]
	Good Day New York	Herself	Guest^[49]
2015–16	Dance Moms	Herself	Season 5–6
2016	Nickelodeon's Ultimate Halloween Costume Party	Ghost/Creepy Girl
	Make It Pop	Herself	Episode: "Summer Splash Spectacular"^[50]
	Bizaardvark	Herself	Episode: "Bizaardvark vs. Vicki 'Hot Head' Fuego"
	The Thundermans	Nora's Fan	Episode: "Thundermans: Banished!"
2017	Nickelodeon's Not-So-Valentine Special	Girl with Heart/Dancer^[51]
	Nickelodeon's Ultimate Halloween Haunted House	Herself
	Lip Sync Battle Shorties	Herself	Main role
	School of Rock	Audrey	2 episodes
	JoJo Siwa: My World	Herself
2018	The JoJo and BowBow Show Show	Herself^[52]
	Blurt!	Victoria	Television film
2019	JoJo's Dream Birthday	Herself
	SpongeBob SquarePants	Herself (cameo)	Episode: "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"
	All That	Herself	Episode 1106
	JoJo's Follow Your D.R.E.A.M.	Herself
	Keeping Up with the Kardashians	Herself	Season 17, Episode: "Three's Company"
	JoJo's D.R.E.A.M. Concert	Herself
	Middle School Moguls	Josie (voice)	Episode: "Mo-Gul Money, Mo Problems"
2020	The Substitute	Herself	Episode: "JoJo Siwa"
	The Masked Singer	Herself/T-Rex
	Celebrity Watch Party	Herself
2021	Celebrity Family Feud	Contestant	Season 7, episode 4
	Dancing with the Stars	Herself	Contestant (season 30)
2022	So You Think You Can Dance	Herself/Judge	Season 17
	America's Got Talent	Herself	Season 17 Premiere
	High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	Madison	Guest star
	1st Children's and Family Emmy Awards	Herself/Host	December 10, 2022 ceremony
2023	RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars	Herself/ Guest judge	Season 8; Episode: "The Supermarket Ball"^[53]
	RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked	Herself	Episode: "Untucked - The Supermarket Ball"
	Special Forces: World's Toughest Test	Herself	Season 2^[54]

Films

Year	Title	Role
2019	The Angry Birds Movie 2	Jay, Kira (voices)
2021	The J Team	JoJo Siwa
TBA	All My Friends Are Dead^[55]	TBA

Music videos

Year	Title	Performer(s)	Album
2020	"I Believe in Santa"^[56]	Meghan Trainor	A Very Trainor Christmas

Discography

Soundtrack albums

List of soundtrack albums

Title	Details
The J Team (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	Released: August 27, 2021^[57] Label: Viacom International Format: Digital download, streaming

Extended plays

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications shown

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US Kid ^[58]
D.R.E.A.M. The Music	Released: November 16, 2018^[59] Label: Viacom International Format: Digital download, streaming	22
Celebrate	Released: April 12, 2019^[60] Label: Viacom International Format: Digital download, streaming	12
JoJo's Rockin' Christmas	Released: November 13, 2020^[61] Label: Viacom International Format: Digital download, streaming	17

Singles

Year	Title	Certifications	Album
2016	"Boomerang"	RIAA: 2× Platinum^[62]	Non-album singles
2017	"Kid in a Candy Store”	RIAA: Gold^[62]
	"Hold the Drama”	RIAA: Gold^[62]
2018	"Every Girl's a Super Girl"
	"High Top Shoes"
	"Only Getting Better"		D.R.E.A.M. The Music
2019	"Bop!"		Celebrate
2020	"Nonstop"^[63]^[64]		Non-album singles

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated person or work	Result	Ref.
2017	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Viral Music Artist	JoJo Siwa	Won
2018		Favorite Musical YouTube Creator		Won
2019		Favorite TV Host	Nick Cannon & JoJo Siwa (Lip Sync Battle Shorties)	Nominated
		Favorite Social Music Star	JoJo Siwa	Won
2020				Won	^[65]
2021				Nominated
2022				Nominated
2022	Children's and Family Emmy Awards	Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Live Action Program	The J Team	Nominated	^[66]
		Outstanding Choreograpy	Siwas Dance Pop Revolution	Nominated	^[66]

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External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JoJo Siwa.

• Official website
• JoJo Siwa at IMDb