JoJo Siwa Admits She 'Struggles With Confidence' Despite Being 'Very Happy': 'If You Focus on the Good, More Good Comes'

JoJo Siwa isn't as sure of herself as some people might think.

"Honestly, I don’t think it’s confidence. I struggle a lot with confidence, actually. I think satisfaction and happiness can disguise themselves as confidence. I’m very satisfied with my life and very happy. For example, I’ve been in a relationship for a year now, and recently, I wrote out 52 things that I love about my partner. Of course, relationships have little bumps, but seeing 52 positive things outweighs the little negatives. If you focus on the good, more good comes. It’s a beautiful thing," the 23-year-old, who is dating Chris Hughes, exclusively tells OK! while talking about how she's marking the 10th anniversary of her hit song “Boomerang."

"People think I have this giant career plan. I don’t. My motto is: the plan is there is no plan. I used to be more structured, but once that stopped working, I just kind of let go and decided to evolve naturally. The one thing I really trusted my instincts on was the 'Karma' beast look. My label wanted the beast edited out of the music video, and I said, 'Absolutely not. That’s the best part.' And it ended up being the thing everyone remembered," the artist continues.

After breaking out in the industry in Lifetime's Dance Moms and Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, Siwa has made a name for herself. Her singing career also took off, with "Boomerang,” which was originally released in May 2016, becoming one of Siwa’s defining career moments, surpassing 1 billion YouTube views and generating more than 1 billion combined streams. The song’s message was inspired by Siwa's own experiences with bullying, encouraging young people to stand up for themselves and keep moving forward.

Now, the dancer is commemorating the milestone with a special five-track EP, which was released on May 29.

"We started thinking about this three or four years ago. The original idea came from doing a 'Boomerang' ballad, and we really liked the idea of doing a 'Boomerang' ballad and a slower version of 'Boomerang.' And then we realized, in just a couple of years, the 10th anniversary is coming up. Why don’t we wait until the 10th anniversary? I’ll be super honest: it snuck up on us. About three or four months ago, we were like, 'Oh my God, that’s tomorrow.' So we got into high gear really quickly. Of course, we have the remix, we have the ballad, we have the 2026 version. So there’s lots of good fun that we kind of got into," she explains of the process.

"'Boomerang' is actually an extremely difficult song to work with. There aren’t many places you can take that song because, one, the song was made for a 13-year-old to sing. So, how do you sing a song that’s so youthful as an adult and make it sound nice and good and normal? And then there’s also the tone of it, the key of it, everything in that technical sense. How do you make it into a ballad? So there were a lot of little obstacles, but it turned out beautiful. I’m very happy with how it came out, but it’s been a long time in the works," she continues.

"They’ve done over 20 songs with me. Honestly, the only thing I changed in the 'Boomerang' ballad was the dance break. It was the only thing that didn’t feel right. I just said, 'I think we need to bring some piano in,' and that was it. So once we got going, it was actually very quick. One recording session, and then I left to go film two TV shows — two weeks on one, two weeks on the other — and by the time I got back, they were done. So it was a wonderful, seamless process," she says.

Now that she's in a different era, Siwa says listening to the hit song "doesn't even feel like me anymore."

"It’s the weirdest thing to explain. When we were in the recording session doing the 2026 remake, it felt iconic — like we were touching Cleopatra or something," she jokes. "It just felt so strange, and the lucky thing for me is that I actually struggle in the recording studio when I’m recording a song for the first time. It takes me a long time to figure out where it sits on my voice, how I like it and how I hit the right note. But with 'Boomerang,' it was so easy because I’ve been singing it for 10 years."

She adds, "I know how to sing it. I know how to say the words correctly. In singing, sometimes you change vowel sounds to make things sound better, but 'Boomerang' is so naturally ingrained in me that I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way besides the correct way. So it came really naturally, and it was really fun. But yeah, it felt very iconic."

Though "a lot of people" told Siwa she would get "sick" of playing "Boomerang" over the years, she feels the opposite.

"I think I’m lucky because 'Boomerang' was my childhood hit, and 'Karma' kind of became my adulthood hit, which is also frustrating because they were both my firsts. Now I’m like, 'All right, let’s try to do it again.' Maybe my senior citizen era will have another first," she quips.

"But honestly, I’m good. I’ve had my kid hit, my adult hit, and I’m thriving now. I’m just having a good time. I’m really proud of the work I did as a kid. And honestly, I’ve never gotten sick of 'Boomerang.' When I sing it live, it’s usually toward the end of the show, and it’s just so easy. It’s like washing your hands or taking a drink of water. Everything else feels hard and taxing. 'Boomerang' feels like going for a walk in the park," she states.

The reality star advises other child stars to "enjoy" their careers — even amid the highs and lows. "It’s a very enjoyable life. It’s unconventional, but it has a lot of perks. I got free Burger King today because of my childhood career. It was lovely," she quips.

Siwa is also excited to perform "Boomerang" and some of her other bops in the near future.

"It’s very fun. Right now, I’m building the concert for the JoJo cruise, and it’s complicated because I have to figure out how to sing 'Boomerang,' 'Kid in a Candy Store,' 'Karma,' 'Bette Davis Eyes,' and 'Serendipity' in a cohesive way, but it’s cool. Creativity has endless possibilities," she states.

As for what the future holds, she is optimistic, as per usual.

"I hope for a bit more sleep in the next 10. I hope for less stress, but honestly, I just hope life keeps going, and we keep having fun. As long as I survive the next 10 years, whatever comes with them, I’ll be grateful," she concludes.