JoJo Siwa Reveals This Lip Sync Battle Was Her 'Gay Awakening '

On the latest episode of 4D with Demi Lovato, guest Jojo Siwa got candid about her sexual awakenings and how she confessed her crush to girlfriend Kylie Prew. 

The conversation began with Lovato asking Siwa, who came out in January, if she thinks her personality “captures the essence of Pride,” to which Siwa replied, “I am a walking rainbow!” while showing off her head-to-toe rainbow outfit. 

From there, Siwa turned the conversation to some recent personal discoveries. “I've been figuring out my ‘gay awakenings’ recently,” she said. “I think I realized that my very first gay awakening was Jenna Dewan's performance on Lip Sync Battle. I think that was one of them.”

She also recalled how Lovato’s music video for “Cool for the Summer” was an eye-opening experience. “Do you remember your dancer?” asked Siwa. "Her name is Jojo Gomez and you did ‘Cool for the Summer’ together…I remember seeing that and just being a little too interested.”

As it turned out, “Cool For The Summer” was also a pivotal moment for Lovato’s queer journey. “When I did ‘Cool for the Summer,’ that song for me was actually my way of sharing with the world without confirming that I was bisexual. Because like I said, I didn't come out until 2017,” they said. “But ‘Cool for the Summer’ was like 2014, 2015. So, like, that to me, it was my way of saying, ‘I’m not ready to come out but...’”

Siwa also shared how she and her girlfriend opened up to each other about how they felt about one another. The two first met on a cruise ship, and Siwa says the attraction was instant. “I knew right once I saw her like, 'Woah, she's really, really pretty. I really like her,’” she recalled “But I was just thinking like, ‘Oh, like a friend’…As we became best friends, I was like, ‘I don't think it's that.’”

Over Christmas break, Prew visited Siwa in Florida and the singer said she couldn't hold back any longer. “In that time, I couldn't avoid my feelings,” she said. “The tension was, like, you could cut it with a knife. It was insane.”

Prew asked Siwa if she had a crush on anyone, but at first, Siwa refused to say who, so Prew took the initiative. “She says that right then she knew it was her and she had had a crush on me,” Siwa recalled. “But I was like, ‘I can't tell her because she's my best friend.’ And why I didn't want to tell her is because I didn't want to lose her friendship.” 

“‘If that was to ruin our friendship, I wouldn’t be a good friend,’” Siwa said Prew assured her.  

“If you are secretly feeling something for your best friend or somebody close to you, and you tell them and it makes something else go away, they’re not a true best friend,” Siwa said. “It shouldn't affect anything. You're allowed to have a crush on anybody you want to have a crush on. It’s up to them if they do something with it.”

Prew was ultimately the first to confess their feelings, which gave Siwa the courage to do the same. The couple just celebrated their six-month anniversary.

“Everything will end like it’s supposed to,” Siwa assured listeners. “If someone exits your life because of something that you told them, you can’t hide for forever. It's better to just say it now. It's better to say it. And you’ll also know when the time is right. And when the time is right, don't chicken out, just do it.”

Watch the full interview here: