JoJo Siwa is looking to push her music career to new heights with her latest single “Karma,” and for a minute, it looked like the tune might have had a shot at some real commercial success in the U.S. Any hints of a smash seem to be dashed after a very short honeymoon, as not only is her cut falling, but another, similar tune is stealing the show.
Shortly after Siwa released “Karma,” a musician named Brit Smith released her version of essentially the same song. It seems that “Karma” has existed in the music industry as an unpublished track for years. Siwa’s A&R team found the cut and gave it to her, with the young talent rewriting some of the composition to fit her own purposes.
This isn’t unusual for the music industry, but it typically happens behind the scenes. What makes this situation so unusual is that after Siwa’s “Karma” was released, Smith dropped her original take, making it available to the public for the first time.
Smith’s “Karma’s a Bitch” immediately became a trending topic. Her release caused quite a stir, especially among those who may not have realized that many pop singers source their songs from songwriters and producers, sometimes digging into treasure troves of tunes that never got to see the light of day.
This week, “Karma’s a Bitch” debuts on a handful of Billboard charts, giving Smith her first win on any tally. It opens at No. 18 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Song Sales list, which isn’t far behind Siwa. Her “Karma” slips from No. 5 to No. 11 in its second frame on that all-encompassing look at the top dance and electro tunes in America.
“Karma’s a Bitch” outperforms Siwa’s similar single on two Billboard tallies, as pure purchases turned out to be big for the original. The tune opens at No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart. That’s higher than Siwa’s, which peaked at No. 7 and is now down to No. 13.
Perhaps most impressively, “Karma’s a Bitch” is new to the all-style Digital Song Sales chart at No. 12. The tune sold 2,803 copies in its first full tracking frame, according to Luminate. Siwa never managed to reach that same ranking with her single, which was something of a disappointment.
“Karma’s a Bitch” may be a quick hit, as it was seemingly powered by the controversy that swirled on social media and in the press following the realization that Siwa’s track wasn’t new. While it might not hold on for very long, it doesn’t need to do so in order to handicap Siwa’s tune. “Karma” was not welcomed like the singer and her team had likely hoped, and now it’s on its way down, thanks in large part to this story becoming bigger than the song itself.