Jojo Siwa vs Chappell Roan

Written By: Dana Mautone

Edited By: Nina Weaver

Chappell Roan performing at Lollapalooza. Photo Credits: Erika Goldring

What comes to mind when you think of the phrase: “gay pop?” According to pop star Jojo Siwa, you should think of her. Siwa is a singer, dancer, and an internet personality who became famous for starring on the reality TV show Dance Moms. 

Following her appearance on the show, Siwa garnered enough online presence to earn a talent deal with Nickelodeon. She had a clear public image as a kid-friendly, sparkly pink bow-wearing influencer. 

In early 2024, Siwa shocked the internet with a massive rebrand, denouncing her old family-friendly persona in favor of a more risque, adult one. Along with this remodeling of Jojo Siwa came a new era of music. 

In an interview with American music and entertainment magazine, Billboard, she boldly stated that she wanted to create a new genre of music called “gay pop.” She quickly received backlash for her statement because of how it discredited the gay musicians who have paved the way for artists like her to thrive.

Jojo Siwa performing at LA Pride. Photo Credits: Chelsea Guglielmino

Siwa’s disastrous attempt to market to queer people is a vivid contrast to artists like Chappell Roan, who captured the hearts of Americans seemingly overnight. Chappell Roan's steep rise began around the beginning of Siwa’s downfall.

Her latest single, “Good Luck Babe,” which came out in March of 2024, has amassed 800 million streams on Spotify alone in less than a year. She is starting to be hailed as a new-age queer icon and is often compared to household names such as Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper. She is even praised by queer legends such as Elton John. 

Chappell Roan is renowned for her over-the-top costumes, campy makeup, electric stage presence, and unfiltered attitude. Compare this to Siwa who wears extravagant costumes, does avant-garde “Kiss” inspired makeup, gives energetic, dance-heavy concert performances, and has a provocative demeanor. 

Siwa and Roan are fundamentally very similar performers. Why did one of them soar and the other fall? What factors dictate the meteoric rise of an unknown artist from the Midwest and the failure of an ex-reality TV star trying to revamp herself as the face of queer music? 

Listeners can easily relate with Chappell Roan but have trouble identifying with Jojo Siwa. Roan came from humble beginnings; a queer person raised in the Midwest with dreams of leaving and being able to live life to the fullest potential. 

She writes about those experiences in her music and is vocal about her struggle to gain traction as an artist. She had to build herself up as an independent artist to acquire the connections that contribute to her success today. 

Audiences want to see success stories. They want to see themselves in the people they look up to and listen to every day. Siwa’s background could not be more different than Roan’s, having been building a commercial empire since she was a child and owning multiple cars with her face plastered on it. She came from much better odds with a larger fame than Roan did. Many listeners feel that they cannot relate to Siwa and her story.

Additionally, there is a refreshing aspect of individuality in Roan’s music that is lost in Siwa’s. Roan shares experiences that can resonate with anyone yet puts her unique voice on all these concepts. Listeners place themselves in her shoes when she talks about the pain of unreciprocated love, the anticipation of infatuation, or general dissatisfaction with dating. She delivers them with witty word plays and made-up phrases that make the concepts her own. 

Jojo Siwa debuted her new look at the IHeartRadio Music Awards. Photo Credits: Kevin Mazur

Siwa’s music does not come off as personal. Her notorious song “Karma,” which was used to launch her new “era,” was criticized for how little it seemed to relate to Siwa’s own personality. References to being a “bad girl who did some bad things” didn’t click with listeners when her public persona was overtly childlike and family-friendly until recent years. 

The song's tacky, unoriginal, copy-and-paste, and outdated pop production value does not help Siwa’s case. Nobody is putting on “Karma” during their drive to work, and the music video is currently the most disliked YouTube video of 2024. 

People would overall much rather look up to Chappell Roan’s experience as an artist. Someone who has built themself up and releases art that listeners see themselves in, compared to Jojo Siwa’s failed rebrand attempt. In an effort to completely reinvent herself, she became another over-the-top caricature. It turns out that switching from one color of sequins to another was not the solution for Siwa’s dwindling relevance.