JoJo Siwa took TikTok by storm with her newest single “Karma,” and not for a good reason. The self-proclaimed creator of ‘gay pop’ (yeah…trust me I know), dropped her lackluster song on April 5. And to no surprise, it was just as bad as I thought it was going to be. I tried so hard to give her a chance, and I did — But something about her harsh voice, combined with lying about writing the song, completely turned me off from it.
In “Karma,” JoJo Siwa starts off with the line “I was a bad girl / I did some bad things” with a type of delivery that is enough to creep out any listener—myself included. She then later sings “She is a good girl / I think she’s boring,” which makes it seem like she’s describing herself. After all, she was “JoJo with the Bow Bow” for almost ten years. Overall, the lyrics that she “wrote” are not authentic nor do they sound good coming from her.
The instrumental of the song is… okay? I am so serious when I say that I thought the instrumental for “Karma” sounded like one of the songs Abby Lee Miller made her dancers perform. There’s just something about it that is dull, or even soulless. JoJo somewhat redeems herself with the bridge of the song where, with the help of autotune, I do not have to turn my volume down.
The song is relatively short, so there is not much to discuss about it sonically, but I want to talk about the story behind “Karma.” According to USA Today, “Karma” was originally recorded in 2012 by artist Brit Smith. While never officially released, the song did leak promptly after JoJo said she wrote the song about her ex—talk about karma, huh? To add insult to injury, Brit Smith officially released her version of the song, which is currently No. 5 on the iTunes Chart and is officially outselling JoJo’s version. Honestly, this serves as a reminder that sometimes the song is not bad, but rather, it is the singer who is. With Brit’s version, I feel like I am in a gritty nightclub, and with JoJo’s I feel like I am at daycare.
Finally, what really annoyed me about this whole “rebrand” of JoJo Siwa is that she tried to compare it to Miley Cyrus’ iconic “Bangerz Era.” Trust me I love a good rebrand era, but to compare it to the Bangerz Era…you have to be about that life. Miley was dropping heat, you are dropping the ball. If JoJo wanted a “Bangerz Moment,” she would have hopped on a track with Big Sean and had us all gagged. If you want to listen to a good version of “Karma,” Brit Smith’s version, “Karma’s a B—-” is now on Spotify and Apple Music. If you want the JoJo Siwa version, look it up I refuse to link it in my review! I doubt if she is “gonna come back like a boomerang” after this flop.
