Since 2015, JoJo Siwa has become a huge child star and is now a world-renown celebrity at only 18-years-old. She got her first big break when she was on the second season of Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition and then joined Dance Moms for its fifth season. That definitely gained her a lot of exposure and her time on the show inspired her to start her own YouTube channel, which ended up being one of the best decisions of her life. She already had millions of views within a few months since she began releasing her own songs with music videos and fans got a first look at the JoJo we love today.
The moms on Dance Moms always thought it was going to be Maddie Ziegler who's name would be up in lights, but JoJo's inspiring spirit and determination made her even more famous than her co-star. Let's take a look at how the teen star got to where she is now and how exactly she became more famous than Maddie.
6 JoJo Was Only On ‘Dance Moms’ For One Season (Because She Kept Getting Other Opportunities)
JoJo first appeared on the second season of Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition when she was 9-years-old and became a part of Dance Moms a couple years later. Unlike Maddie who was on Dance Moms for years, she was only a part of the show for one season since she was receiving bigger opportunities elsewhere. According to US Magazine, “Following her tenure on AUDC, the young dancer joined Miller’s original Lifetime show, Dance Moms, during the fifth season. She and her mother joined the Junior Elite team after longtime cast members Christi and Chloe Lukasiak exited one season prior. She remained on the show until season 6, and eventually returned to the series as a special guest mentor during its eighth and final season, which aired in July 2019.”
5 JoJo Has Had More Success With YouTube
While JoJo was a part of Abby’s Junior Elite team, she launched her YouTube channel, which is one of the biggest reasons why she’s so famous now. Her videos started to gain people’s attention and her songs helped her gain millions of fans. “During her tenure on Dance Moms, she recorded and released her first single, ‘BOOMERANG,’ which has amassed more than 940 million views on YouTube,” according to US Magazine. Maddie has a YouTube channel, but she doesn’t use it as much as JoJo since she hasn’t recorded any songs. She only has three million subscribers while JoJo has 12 million.
4 JoJo Signed A Talent Deal With Nickelodeon
In 2017, JoJo signed an overall talent deal with Nickelodeon and the company launched her career. “Under the arrangement, Nickelodeon will have the opportunity to work with Siwa on a multi-platform basis including in consumer products, original programming, social media, live events, and music,” according to Business Wire. Since then, she’s had her own concerts (including a new tour that’s supposed to start in 2022), appeared on TV shows, and has her own merchandise everywhere. She’s grabbed the attention of millions of kids all over the world and has become a huge role model to them. Maddie has worked with Fabletics a lot the past few years, but that’s the biggest deal she’s gotten so far. JoJo has been able to gain more fans since Nickelodeon reaches so many more kids and Fabletics is more for adults.
3 JoJo Was Named One Of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” Of 2020
Last year, JoJo hit a huge milestone and was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.” Kim Kardashian rooted for JoJo after she babysat her daughter, North, and told Time Magazine, “JoJo Siwa is a ray of sunshine in a world that seems scary right now. As a parent, you want your kids to admire positive figures. There’s no one more positive than JoJo. You just can’t help but smile when you see her rainbow ponytail. She’s a great role model for children, and her optimism is more necessary now than ever. It’s no wonder my 7-year-old daughter North and millions of other children around the world adore her.”
2 She Revealed She Has A Girlfriend And Is Part Of The LGBTQ+ Community On ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’
This doesn’t really have to do with her career, but who she is as a person. “JoJo revealed in January that she was a member of the LGBTQ+ community via Twitter. ‘My cousin got me a new shirt,’ she captioned a photo of herself wearing a shirt that read, ‘Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.’ One month later she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, revealing that she had ‘the most amazing, wonderful, perfect, most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world,’” according to US Magazine. It can be scary showing the world who you are, but she did it anyway and now she’s inspiring millions of kids to be themselves.
1 JoJo Released Her First Movie This Month
JoJo’s fame skyrocketed even more this year. She released her first feature film on September 3rd along with a whole new album. “Deadline first reported that the ‘Kid In a Candy Story’ singer would both star and executive produce a live-action musical, titled The J Team, for Nickelodeon. The production—filmed in Vancouver—is slated for a September premiere on Paramount+,” according to US Magazine. She already has millions of fans, but she might reach even more kids with this musical. Maddie starred in a musical this year too, but instead of it making her more famous, it might have destroyed her career. She starred in Sia’s movie, Music, and although she didn’t really want to do it, Sia kept asking her to since she couldn’t do it without her. It gave Maddie such a bad reputation since she had to play an autistic character even though she doesn’t have autism.
She’s trying to redeem herself by starring in other movies, but it might take her a long time to get to the same level as JoJo. The two former Dance Moms co-stars don’t have any jealousy towards each other though. They seem to still be good friends today and are supportive of each other’s careers.
