“I Guess I’ll be Greedy”: JoJo Siwa Lets Loose

I’d never watched Dance Moms or Dancing with the Stars or The Masked Singer or any of the Nickelodeon series that helped skyrocket JoJo Siwa to fame, but when the 21-year-old dancer turned pop singer dropped “Karma” in April, I was hooked. For JoJo, it was a new era, marked by a slightly darker digression from the bedazzled costuming she’s dutifully rocked since toddlerdom. But for the haters, it was more of the same. Critics like to diss JoJo for her juvenile taste—her penchant for rhinestones and construction vests and teddy bears and ponytails so tight that they’ve generated a bald spot. But I love her for all of those things. Juvenile or not, I think JoJo is a rebel—but not necessarily for the reasons she claims. Forget the dancer’s Miley-inspired “gay pop” era or the time she got wasted at Disneyland. What’s transgressive about JoJo is her sincerity. At a time when celebrity is synonymous with high fashion, half-assed dances, and carefully curated Instagram posts, Siwa is earnestly embracing her personal style, creative directors be damned. So when I got on Zoom with the most bullied girl in music to discuss her cameo in the campy horror flick AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, I wasn’t surprised to find her eager, authentic, and ready to entertain.

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SPEAKER 2: Taylore, you have 10 minutes.

SCARABELLI: Fabulous. Hi, JoJo.

JOJO SIWA: How are you?

TAYLORE SCARABELLI: Good. Oh my god, we’re such big fans of you at Interview and I’m so excited to chat with you.

SIWA: Thank you. That means a ton. I appreciate it.

SCARABELLI: So this film was super fun, your first horror moment.

SIWA: Thank you.

SCARABELLI: Are you a horror buff? 

SIWA: What did you call it? A hor—

SCARABELLI: A horror buff. Do you like horror movies?

SIWA: A horror buff. I am out on the lingo these days… Honestly, my friend group and I, we have our own lingo. We were talking yesterday and I was like, “No one would know what we’re talking about.” We’re saying the word boots and that means “Yes, I love it.” That’s crazy. How does boots mean that? But yes, I love horror movies, always have. The only movies that I will go to the theater to see are scary films. Longlegs is my new obsession right now. Those are my vibes.

SCARABELLI: What are your all time faves?

SIWA: The Conjuring. Any of the Conjuring series. I’m going to butcher the vocals on this, but The Curse of La Llorona. I will never be able to say it. The Nun. I could definitely say that one. All the Annabelle’s. So good.

SCARABELLI: Fab. Okay, so in this movie, not to give a spoiler, there’s something gruesome involving the seven deadly sins.

SIWA: Yes.

SCARABELLI: If you had to be one of the seven deadly sins, which one would you be?

SIWA: Okay. I’m not going to lie. I’ve thought about this and I’m kind of stuck. I think that realistically all humans have a little bit of each. You know what I mean? You control yourself and you control your emotions and you control your feelings and that’s why you don’t let it get out of hand. But because my favorite song is “Greedy” by Ariana Grande—I’m greedy for love. So I guess I’ll be greedy.

SCARABELLI: I love it. Okay. In the movie, there is a music festival called Karmapalooza.

SIWA: Full kawinkidink. Would you believe that?

SCARABELLI: Really? Whoa.

SIWA: Oh yeah. I was on set and I remember they showed me a T-shirt saying Karmapalooza, and I was like, “Huh.” Oh, yeah.

SCARABELLI: Okay. So my question is, if you were booking Karmapalooza this summer, who would be performing? 

SIWA: I would make it the gayest festival ever and I would have all of my favorites there. So we’re getting Chappell Roan in the building. We’re getting G Flip in the building. Fletcher in the building. Hayley Kiyoko in the building. All show up for a little bit. Pop Trixie Mattel in there. Sasha Colby. We are going to make it gaycon.

SCARABELLI: Oh my god. I want a VIP pass. 

SIWA: Got you.

SCARABELLI: [Laughs] So in the movie, your character has an unrequited crush on a seemingly straight girl. Has that ever happened to you IRL?

SIWA: I think I’ve been bamboozled by people. I think I was with somebody who’s actually straight, but they were telling me they were gay so they could be with me. And now that I’m out of the relationship, I’m like, “I don’t think you’re gay, babe. I think you just wanted to have fun.” But I think I’ve actually never gone for a straight girl, more so because my type has been more masculine, but I don’t know. I think everyone has a little gay in them.

SCARABELLI: That’s right. [Laughs] Okay. So this movie is also about bullying and I’m wondering—

SIWA: I don’t know what it’s like.

SCARABELLI: I’m wondering how you handle the haters?

SIWA: Gently, for sure. I don’t believe in fighting fire with fire, but I do believe you have a choice every day, you can either let it fuel your fire or you can let it crumble you. And some days I just need to crumble. I go to my people and I’m like, “Look, I’m upset right now. Give me a distraction.” And they will. Actually I had someone in my life bring up hate to me, and they were like, “Look at what people are saying about you on your video.” And I was like, “Knock it the fuck off! The goal is to protect me from this, not draw it to my attention.”

SCARABELLI: Right. 

SIWA: Because I do a good job at posting and walking away. I read the comments, but if there’s new hate, I won’t. But if I know, “Oh, people are just going to hate on my voice. People are going to hate on my look. People are going to hate on my hair. I don’t care.” But if they’re going to find something new to hate on, then I kind of freak out a little bit. But I think I’ve accepted that if I’m the punching bag of the world, that means that somebody else isn’t and I know that I was built to be strong enough—thank you, Mom—to handle this. My mom is a very, very strong person and I think she passed that gene down to me. And so I think I was built to handle it. 

SCARABELLI: Wow. That’s really cool. That’s a really—it’s a lot to take, but also you have so many fans, so it’s like, “Forget it.” Right? I Also wanted to ask you about your mom. Is she still really involved in your day-to-day, or are you a little more independent now? 

SIWA: I have five missed texts from her right now because I’m doing Zoom press and I’ve been doing Zoom press for 30 minutes.

SCARABELLI: Oh, damn.

SIWA: Yeah, my mom’s a good one. She’s definitely my girl. She’s got my career. She’s a keeper.

SCARABELLI: Mm-hmm. Okay. Back to the acting. You’re in this totally new era. What kind of roles do you want to take on? 

SIWA: Honestly, I just signed on for something. I can’t talk too much about it. But it’s a really interesting role for me to be a part of and a big challenge. I just have to tap into the human that I hide from people, the side of me that isn’t necessarily entertaining to the world so I don’t share it with the world.

SCARABELLI: Mm-hmm.

SIWA: I want to keep pushing myself, keep pushing the boundaries. If it’s a scary role that people are too afraid to jump into, I want to do that one. 

SCARABELLI: Totally. It was also just announced that you’re part of Demi Lovato’s new documentary on child stardom. How was that experience? Did you tap into some stuff you hadn’t before?

SIWA: Look, I am a very open, honest person. But I’ve never talked about my child star life because anytime I was asked about it, I was still a child star. When we filmed this documentary, the “Karma” music video wasn’t released yet. So it was before I really tapped into this new adult world. So for me, it’s how I closed the book of my child stardom. And it was a really peaceful way to do it. It was like free therapy with Demi Lovato. Who’s going to pass up on that?

SCARABELLI: I love it. Okay, last question because I know you have to go. What’s your guilty pleasure?

SIWA: I have so many, but honestly right now, and I’m not bullshitting you, Pop-Tarts. I have a thing of Pop-Tarts every single day. It’s so great. They always say a cookie doesn’t matter unless you have a cookie every single day. I don’t care. I’m going to have a Pop-Tart every single day. And when that’s a problem, it’s a problem. It could be worse. It’s not drugs.

SCARABELLI: I thought you were going to say Tito’s.

SIWA: I do love Tito’s. I like Fireball more. It’s more fun on stage because I get people to sing “Fireball.”

SCARABELLI: Yum.

SIWA: But I do have a bottle of Tito’s that has my Karma beast makeup, rhinestones, on it. I haven’t shown it to the world yet. I was going to do it today and then I was five minutes late leaving my house, so I couldn’t film it in time. But yeah, love Fireball. But honestly, Pop-Tarts.

SCARABELLI: I’m a Fireball girl too. Anyway, thank you so much. It was great chatting with you. Good luck with the rest of your interviews.

SIWA: Thank you.

SCARABELLI: Bye now.