On April 5, dance star Jojo Siwa released her new single called “Karma”. The hype for “Karma” had captured social media’s attention.
Jojo Siwa was a well-known child star on “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” and “Dance Moms.” She was also known for her iconic bows and clothing lines. From her beginnings on reality shows, Siwa continued her singing and dancing career, leading up to the release of her single, “Karma.”
On April 5, Siwa had what some may call her “Miley Cyrus moment,” meaning she transitioned from child star to an adult. After her new song had been out for about a week, people began to notice it sounded a little too similar to a song by Brit Smith that was released in 2012.
People on social media have formed different opinions on the situation. Some think Siwa may have secured legal rights to the song, while others allege stole the song from Brit Smith.
Linganore High School (LHS) sophomore Asha Prasad shared her opinion on the allegations against Siwa. She sees both sides of the issue and did not choose one side over the other.
“I think she probably got the rights to it because she’s been a star her whole life, and if she had actually stolen the song, I think it would’ve become a bigger deal,” Prasad said.
While there are many thoughts and opinions regarding Siwa’s song, the main question surrounding this situation is who is the original writer and owner of the song.
It is true that some celebrities buy lyrics or hire someone to write songs for them. Up until this point, there had been no question about Siwa writing original music.
Rock Mafia, an American record producer, has worked with many celebrities including Smith, Miley Cyrus and Jojo Siwa.
Singer-songwriter Smith had an interview with Page Six explaining the history of “Karma.” She explained that she wrote the song in 2012, and up until these conspiracies began it could only found on YouYube. Following the controversy and allegations against Siwa, Smith’s original song was posted to many other websites.
“With Rock Mafia back in the day, it was supposed to be my first single and sort of things changed and I went with ‘Provocative’ instead,” Smith said during her Page Six interview. “And, I shouldn’t have done that really; we should’ve gone with ‘Karma.’”
Singer Miley Cyrus was also linked to the song in 2012, but she never released it as a single.
LHS senior Vanessa Linton shared why she believes it is okay for singers to pay other people write their music.
“I think that it’s okay to hire somebody to do this because not everyone is a songwriter,” Linton said. “At the same time, I don’t think they should be passing around the same song to multiple people.”
Nine days after Siwa’s “Karma” was released, Smith released her original demo as “Karma’s a B****,” so the songs could be somewhat separate.
Although “Karma” was passed around to different music artists, Jojo Siwa ultimately bought the song and now legally owns it. This concludes the controversy surrounding her first single as an adult artist.
