TV, Film & 37 Upcoming Arena Shows: JoJo Siwa Keeps D.R.E.A.M.ing Big

From a young age Siwa has had a clear vision for her career.   

Sterling adds, “A brand is not just a logo on a T-shirt, that’s merch. When you talk about a brand, a brand makes a promise and delivers on it. So Mercedes is luxury, Gucci is fashion. Apple is innovating. JoJo is empowerment, self-love and inclusivity and positivity. And that’s what sets her apart from other people trying to do the same thing, if you will.” 

Siwa quickly began achieving milestones in her career including launching an accessories line with Claire’s (which has sold more than 80 million bows to date), signing with Nickelodeon, hosting a TEDx Talk at age 12 and releasing the 2016 single “Boomerang” a few days before her 13th birthday. The empowering anti-bullying anthem has been certified double-platinum and its official video has been viewed 946 million times. 

With her rabid and growing fanbase, it was time for Siwa to take her show on the road. Sterling notes that she met up with Debra Rathwell, Executive Vice President of Global Touring and Talent at AEG Presents, “who is incredible. … She’s a JoJo fan through and through, and sees the levels of capability that I do with JoJo in every lane of business.”

Agent Matt Galle, who made the move to CAA earlier this year, started working with Siwa in 2017. He explains he heard about Siwa from his cousin’s kids, “who were all about her … buying all the clothes and bows.” And after checking out her YouTube page, Galle instantly knew “she’s a star.”

Galle says that with Siwa already having a touring deal with AEG, he helped fill in some of the holes in the routing with festival plays and other headline shows. 

“I can’t take all the credit because AEG worked a lot on the routing, made a lot of suggestions. Debra Rathwell was great. She has been doing this a long time, working with younger and older artists,” Galle says. “We saw that JoJo’s fans were everywhere, not just in the major markets but also hitting pockets in the South and Midwest and Northwest. A lot of artists skip over a lot of those markets.” 

In addition to playing secondary markets, Galle notes that when booking 6,000-to-7,000-capacity rooms, “making sure places were scaled right and they always looked packed was part of the strategy to get her into full-blown arenas.”

“Nickelodeon’s JoJo Siwa D.R.E.A.M. The Tour,” which launched in May 2019, began with theater dates and then headed to arenas, including a stop at London’s O2, where Siwa made history as the youngest artist to headline and sell out the venue. 

Tour reports submitted to Pollstar include a sold-out July 24, 2019, show at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., that sold 11,766 tickets and grossed $631,547.

“She’s also a storyteller,” Sterling says of Siwa’s live show. “You know, she doesn’t stand there in front of a mic. She moves on the stage. It’s visually just captivating and electric.”

When the pandemic shut down live shows, including the “D.R.E.A.M.” tour, Siwa stayed busy working on new music and projects, as well as collecting accolades. 

September marked the premiere of  “The J Team,” a live-action musical premiering on Paramount+. The film stars Siwa, who performs the film’s original soundtrack and is also the executive producer. She’s also the executive producer of the new series “Siwa’s Dance Pop Revolution,” which stars her mother Jessalynn, a professional dance instructor (and Siwa’s mom-ager), on Peacock.

Siwa was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2020. A write-up from Kim Kardashian West praised the pop star as “a ray of sunshine in a world that seems scary right now…. She’s a great role model for children, and her optimism is more necessary now than ever.” She was also crowned the favorite Social Music Star in 2019 and 2020 by the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards.

Siwa publicly came out as gay in January with a post on social media and in September she made history as being part of the first same-sex pairing on “Dancing With The Stars.” She and her dance partner ultimately placed second in the competition.

“I actually sprained my ankle during that performance. That wasn’t very fun. But we kept going forward and we wrapped it,” Siwa says. “And I have this joke. You know, there’s R.I.C.E.: You Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate. I always say we are going to Minute R.I.C.E. things (laughs) – we are going to pop it in the microwave and we’re going to call it good for one minute. And we’re going to keep going. But ‘Can’t Cancel Pride’ was so fun. We transformed my backyard into this epic pride stage. I got to have so many awesome dancers. It was just a blast.”

“D.R.E.A.M. The Tour” returns to the road in January for 37 more arena dates booked through March. Siwa is adding seven more songs to the setlist, while keeping the structure of the show the same.

Siwa describes the fans at her shows as “4-year-olds and [LGBTQ+ teenagers] and it’s the best mix of people you could ever imagine. 

“I think that when people come to my concert, they don’t really know what to expect. They know it’s a little kid thing, but they also know it’s not a little kid thing. I just want it to be for everybody, anybody can come and have a fun night and jump up and down and scream and yell and go on an adventure and listen to music and have so much fun. I try to put on a show that has something for everybody, that has something for kids, but has something for adults and has something for the grandma and grandpa that bring their kids. You know, that’s why I sing an Elton John cover and sing a Queen cover.” 

Following the tour, Sterling says Siwa plans to sign a record deal and return to the studio In the meantime, she’ll keep dreaming big. 

“I am really, really excited obviously to go back on tour. My ultimate goal one day would be to perform at the Super Bowl,” Siwa says. “I love music. I love being on tour. I also love movies. I really want to be the first ever girl Hamilton on Broadway. … I also want to be Lady Gaga in a biopic of her. I think that would be so cool. I have so many dreams.”