JoJo Siwa Clarified She's "Not The Inventor Of Gay Pop"

JoJo Siwa’s bad-girl rebrand may be new to her, but her sexually liberated new music isn’t exactly a completely unheard-of direction. Siwa herself has credited Miley Cyrus as part of the inspiration for her new era, but she found herself in some hot water when she she seemed to claim she had created an entirely new genre recently. During an interview promoting her rebellious single “Karma,” Siwa made the bold claim she was innovating a new type of music called “gay pop.”

“When I first signed with Columbia I said I wanted to start a new genre of music: gay pop,” Siwa told Billboard. That clip quickly went viral, with queer pop stars like Tegan and Sara and Betty Who making it very clear that “gay pop” has existed long before Siwa. She clearly caught wind of the backlash, because a couple days later she cleared things up while talking to TMZ.

“I definitely am not the inventor of gay pop, for sure not,” Siwa said. “But I do want to be a piece in making it bigger than it already is. I want to bring more attention to it.”

Siwa continued by clarifying she simply wanted to bring more attention to the genre as its own unique musical niche. “I think I just wanna make it more clear that gay pop is a genre. You have pop, you have rock, you have country, and you have gay pop,” Siwa said. “Madonna, Lady Gaga, f*cking Michael Jackson! There's so many people who have made ‘gay pop.’”

She concluded by giving herself a new title within the “gay pop” pantheon: “I'm not the creator. I'm not the president, but I might be like the CEO, or CMO, chief marketing officer. I'm the CMO.”

As for how Siwa’s new music will exemplify this “gay pop” sensibility, “Karma” seems to be rollicking taste of what’s to come. The synth-booming banger focuses on an unfaithful relationship, possibly inspired by Siwa’s own recent drama-filled tryst with TikToker Avery Cyrus.

Siwa has yet to reveal when she will drop more music.