No, JoJo Siwa Does Not Think She Invented ‘Gay Pop’ — But She Would Like to Be the ‘CMO’

JoJo Siwa would like to set the record — for lack of a better word — straight. After a clip from her recent Billboard interview went viral, the “Karma” singer is making it clear that she did not invent the idea of “gay pop.”

In a video published by TMZ, Siwa took a moment to clarify her statement about the genre of gay pop music, saying, “I think I just want to make it more clear that gay pop is a genre,” she said. “I am not the inventor of gay pop, for sure not. But I do want to be a piece of making it bigger than it already is. I Want to bring more attention to it.”

She continued, using a corporate metaphor to further illustrate her point. “I’m not the president [of gay pop], but I might be the CEO, or the CMO. I can be the CMO, the chief marketing officer, and use my marketing tactics whether people like it or not,” she said.

In her original interview with Billboard News’ Tetris Kelly, Siwa said that when she originally signed to Columbia Records, she told the label, “I want to start a new genre of music … it’s called ‘gay pop,’” before going on to compare the genre to the jazz-funk genre of dance. The online community quickly began criticizing Siwa for saying she wanted to “create” this “new genre,” with queer icons Tegan and Sara literally offering the 20-year-old singer some side eye on their TikTok page.

Siwa said that Tegan and Sara were far from the only LGBTQ+ musicians to throw some light shade at her comments. “Even Betty Who made a post being like, ‘Hey…’” she said. “And I’m literally friends with Betty.”

All the controversy comes on the heels of Siwa’s new single, “Karma,” which saw the singer taking on a new, more unvarnished pop star persona. You can watch the video for Siwa’s new song below: