JoJo Siwa certainly wants fans to know she isn't a kid anymore. But fans think she may have went about it the wrong way. Siwa debuted a new look at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Her look resembled a WWE wrestler with bedazzled silver and black. She also wore black paint on her face as well and oversized combat boots. She told E! News, it was the look from her latest music video. "This is my 'KARMA,' black beast look," JoJo shared. "It's got some rips in it, but you'd never know."
The internet being what it is. Siwa opened herself to plenty of ridicule with some fans scratching their heads. It's certainly a bold look, but it's proven to be decisive for sure. It's not quite the grown-up image that Siwa was clearly hoping for.
#JoJoSiwa is embracing her new era at the #iHeartAwards2024 carpet. ? pic.twitter.com/FAMQwclSkv
— E! News (@enews) April 2, 2024
Several people responded to the image. One wrote, "Her personality and actions still scream I'm a kid star lol." Another compared her to Miley Cyrus, writing, "Here we go with the Miley tongue thing again. Must be a rite of passage into adulthood for these kid stars."
Another wrote, "Not sure what she's trying to prove, but this isn't the way to go about it. How ridiculous!!"
Meanwhile, others compared her less favorably to Gene Simmons, the lead singer of KISS. One wrote, "Her 'new era' would be more interesting if it was original and not just a carbon copy of KISS."
Another commented, "It took a year to rip the band aid off, and this is the big reveal? Temu Gene Simmons? So sad."
JoJo Siwa Talks New Look
For what it's worth, Siwa anticipated some backlash to the new look. She said that the look could be "scary" but she described as art as well. "People are afraid of things they don't know," she told the outlet. "Things can be scary for people. New things can be very, very scary."
"Creating art is such a special, special thing," she continued, "and I'm very lucky that I get to be one of the people in the world that gets to create art."
Despite the backlash, Siwa is holding her head high.
"The way that I'm able to keep going and keep being like, 'Wait, actually what I'm doing is right,'" Siwa explained, "is because some of the most respected people in the world have come up to me and been like, 'What you're doing right now is so right. It is what the world needs, and I'm learning from what you are doing right now.'"
