JoJo Siwa’s predecessor comes to her defense amid plagiarism accusations surrounding her new song.
After the Dance Moms alum, 20, released the video and single for ‘Karma’ earlier this month, the song’s original performer, Brit Smith, denied that Siwa had stolen the song from her.
‘I’m here to set the record straight once and for all. ‘JoJo didn’t steal my song,’ Smith began in a TikTok video on Sunday.
“There’s been a lot of talk and a lot of comments made and it’s continuing, so I thought I’d let myself come here and hopefully put an end to this,” he added.
blacksmith recorded the song and video for ‘Karma’s a Bitch’ featuring Rock Mafia and Timbaland in 2012 as her scrapped debut single, after Miley Cyrus dropped the song from her third album Can’t Be Tamed in 2010.
After JoJo Siwa released the video and single for ‘Karma’ earlier this month, the song’s original performer, Brit Smith, denied that Siwa had stolen the song from her.
Smith recorded the song and video for ‘Karma’s a Bitch’ with Rock Mafia and Timbaland in 2012 as her scrapped debut single, after Miley Cyrus dropped the song from her third album Can’t Be Tamed in 2010.
Label executives encouraged her to choose ‘Provocative’ as her debut in 2013, but the single ultimately underperformed and Smith left the industry.
“She had every right to record her version, and I hate to see anyone think I’m part of some kind of harassment or something,” Smith said of Siwa.
“I was bullied in high school and I know what it feels like, and I would never want them to think I was a part of that,” she added. “I just want to make it clear that JoJo hasn’t done anything wrong to me.”
Smith’s version has since resurfaced on social media, with the video that goes viral and the song reaching number 8 on the US iTunes pop charts, beating Siwa’s version to #89.
“It’s been a crazy whirlwind since the last week,” he said of the response.
“The support you’ve shown me and saying ‘we want to make your dreams come true 12 years later’ has been incredibly nice, and even inspired me a little to think about possibly getting back into this.”
Smith plans to finally release his original EP on May 17, as he still has the songs “on my computer.”
Siwa has since responded to the allegations, saying TMZ: ‘I didn’t steal anything. There is no theft. I also don’t know who Brit Smith is.
When the interviewer explained Smith’s viral success, Siwa said that “it’s clearly not that viral because I haven’t even seen it.”
Siwa has since responded to the allegations, telling TMZ, “I didn’t steal anything.” There is no such thing as theft; I don’t know who Brit Smith is either.
Ahead of her debut studio album, Siwa marked a new, darker artistic era when she released the lead single this month.
When the interviewer explained Smith’s viral success, Siwa said that “it’s clearly not that viral because I haven’t even seen it.”
“Honestly, it’s an old song,” he explained. ‘They proposed it to me. I loved it, I was obsessed with it, so I stuck with it.”
Siwa added: “That’s a very normal thing… What happens is that people write songs and then they just don’t do anything with them.” And then a few years later it makes more sense to another artist.
“I just knew that song was special, I knew it was a work of art, and I knew it fit exactly with the vision I wanted to create for the world,” Siwa said.
Ahead of her debut studio album, Siwa marked a new, darker artistic era when she released the lead single this month.
JoJo Siwa’s ‘Karma’ and Britt Smith’s ‘Karma’s a Bitch’ are now available to stream and download.