Former “Dance Moms” star JoJo Siwa recently headed to TikTok to share what she dubbed her “gay awakening.”
The 19-year-old singer came out as gay in January 2021. Now she’s explaining how she came to that conclusion about her sexuality, citing fellow pop star Demi Lovato and actress Jenna Dewan as being influential at that time in her life.
Siwa tells the story with an instrumental version of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” playing in the video. Her caption says, “Enjoy.”
“One thing about me is when I was 12, Demi Lovato came out with a song, ‘Cool for the Summer.’ I really, really liked it and I listened to it all the time,” the “Boomerang” singer began.
“I didn’t know what it meant back then, but now that I’m much older I understand and I know what it means,” she said of Lovato’s song, which she says references experimenting sexually with other women.
“Don’t tell your mother/ Kiss one another / Die for each other/ We’re cool for the summer,” the lyrics say.
“Then a few years later, Jenna Dewan went on ‘Lip Sync Battle.’ She did a really great ‘Magic Mike’ number. I watched it every day,” Siwa continued in her TikTok video.
The former reality show star recalled how Dewan put on a white tank and red baseball hat that referenced her then-husband Channing Tatum’s “Magic Mike” character and performed the Ginuwine song “Pony.”
“Little me, she didn’t know she was gay until, a couple years later, a man was my first date and he wanted to have sex with me and I did not want to, never wanted to, grossed out by the thought of it, immediately knew men are not my thing,” Siwa continued.
“Women are my gig, gotta go,” she said at the conclusion of the TikTok video.
This wasn’t the first time Siwa referred to her “gay awakening” or credited Lovato, who identifies as non-binary and bisexual, with being a big part of it.
The “Dance Moms” alum told Lovato during a podcast interview in 2021 that watching the video for “Cool For the Summer,” especially dancer JoJo Gomez, made a huge impression. “I remember seeing that and being just a little too interested,” Siwa said of Gomez performing.
Lovato was thrilled to hear Siwa say that. She said that song was her way “of sharing with the world, without confirming, that I was bisexual… my way of saying ‘I’m not ready to come out, but….’ I’m so happy you could see a little glimpse of that pride through that performance.”