Did JoJo Siwa steal her new song from another artist? Here's why fans think she did
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JoJo Siwa rocked the internet — for better or for worse — last week with the release of her single “Karma.” But one of her upcoming songs already has some people on edge after it was recognized as belonging to another artist.
Video seemingly from a listening party for Siwa’s new album emerged late last week, and included a clip from a song called “Choose Your Fighter.”
“This song, I want you to listen for a very special ad lib,” Siwa said while introducing it. “‘Cause it is about one of my exes. And I will sure as hell point it out when that ad lib comes — don’t you worry. This next song is called ‘Choose Your Fighter.’”
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Although Siwa didn’t directly say she wrote the song, fans interpreted what she did say about it as meaning that the song (rather than just the ad lib) was intended to be about her ex. And that didn’t track, as it was eventually recognized as a song by Emeline, a queer artist who posted “Choose Your Own Fighter” to TikTok back in 2022.
That TikTok is no longer available, although it was when Siwa’s video first made waves. At the time, Emeline commented on the concern fans were expressing in her comments, saying she was going to make a story time to talk about what’s going on, although she has yet to do so as of April 8.
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Despite the accusations that Siwa “stole” Emeline’s song, which were bolstered by Emeline appearing to be in the dark about its inclusion on Siwa’s album, an artist generally doesn’t have to give permission for their song to be covered. They just have to obtain a mechanical license so the writer and original publisher are paid appropriate royalties from any profits.
But as it appears Emeline never officially released “Choose Your Own Fighter,” some speculated she may have even sold the song to Siwa’s label for it to eventually get snatched up for this upcoming album.
Ultimately, right now, there’s too little information available publicly for anyone to say for sure what went down. But that hasn’t stopped the internet from theorizing all the same — and it certainly hasn’t stopped fans of Emeline, who has been rapidly carving out a strong following of her own, from being frustrated that a song they wanted to hear from her is being released by Siwa instead.
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@#greenscreenvideo @EMELINE wrote this song and is clearly singing it… #jojosiwa
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@JoJo Siwa is the new Jlo. Her team used @EMELINE’s vocals & reference recording overlayed 98% on top of Jojo’s background vocals, and passing it as her own. #jojosiwa #emeline #chooseyourfighter #karma #jojo #siwa #newalbum #jlo
As one person on TikTok wrote, “The problem is JoJo is acting like she wrote this and is saying it’s about her exes.”
Siwa has yet to comment on the controversy, although perhaps she’s too busy “starting a new genre of music…called gay pop.”
