Musical duo Tegan and Sara wordlessly called out JoJo Siwa for saying she wants to create a new genre of music called “gay pop.”
In a TikTok posted Sunday, Tegan and Sara, twin sisters who are both gay, offered a silent reaction shot to the camera following a clip of Siwa’s recent interview with Billboard where she declared she wants to invent “gay pop.”
Tegan and Sara Quin, known for their songs “Closer” and “I Was A Fool,” have identified as queer since the beginning of their careers in the ’90s, and have been outspoken advocates for LGBTQ+ rights. Fans applauded the pop duo in the TikTok comments.
“You said it all, thank you,” one person wrote.
“Tegan and Sara are trailblazer in the queer community,” another posted. “Growing up on these two amazing people gave me a voice … Literally icons both of you.”
For the past month, Siwa, who came out as queer in 2021, has been teasing new music and her transition into adult pop stardom. Siwa, who is 20 years old, achieved fame singing kids’ music and marketing her face on countless pieces of merch. Last week, however, when she released the song “Karma” along with its music video, Siwa told outlets that her shift into adult music was the most dramatic of her generation thus far.
“This moment, of making it very clear that we are going from child star to adult artist, is very important to me,” Siwa told Billboard in March. “And I have wanted to take my time to make sure this moment is as perfect as possible.”
“No one has made this dramatic of a change yet,” she continued. “No one has made, in my generation, this extreme of a switch. And I am the first in the generation, it is very scary, but someone’s gotta do it.”
The lyrics of “Karma” include “Karma’s a bitch,” and in the music video, Siwa is grinding on top of other women, fully declaring a new phase of her life and career. Last week, Siwa told Billboard that she wanted to create a new genre of music called “gay pop.”
People online were quick to argue that such a genre has been around for a while, and that plenty of pop stars have identified as LGBTQ+ over the decades, like Hayley Kiyoko, Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, Elton John, David Bowie and the members of the band MUNA.
“This is what happens when you tell a child that they’re great at everything and never criticize them on stuff,” read one TikTok comment with more than 33,000 likes. “You get this.”
Users on X, formerly Twitter, also called out Siwa.
“Jojo siwa saying she wants to create a new genre of music called ‘gay pop’ is the most ignorant thing on planet earth,” one post read. “Like, genuinely so disrespectful and dismissive of every queer person in music who came before her.”
“Tegan and sara have been putting out lesbian pop music longer than jojo siwa has been alive and yet she thinks she’s inventing the gay pop genre??” another person wrote. “The audacity of that girl is something.”
Siwa said she’s learned that the most important question is whether she’s proud of the art she makes.
“Of course, it’s like, is the world going to like it or not,” Siwa told Billboard. “And my thing is, like it or not, you’re going to look.”