'Making my show the best that it possibly can be is what's important to me,' the teen told ET.
JoJo Siwa is ready to fight for her music. ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the 18-year-old singer following her incredible performance on Monday's Dancing With the Stars, and the teen gave an update on her quest to include music from her film, The J Team, on her upcoming tour, Nickelodeon's JoJo Siwa D.R.E.A.M. The Tour.
"Making my show the best that it possibly can be is what's important to me," Siwa said. "If I have to sing the songs from The J Team acapella I will very unhappily do that, but I will happily do that [for my fans]."
Siwa previously claimed that Nickelodeon told her she's "not allowed to perform" her J Team songs on tour, but revealed to ET that she was hoping for an update from the network soon. ET has reached out to Nickelodeon for comment.
"I think that, as an artist, I have a vision and I think that, as a human, I also have a brand," she said. "I think that it only makes sense to have this music in my tour. It's a part of me. It's a part of the brand. It's a part of what we are doing right now."
"It's honestly beyond me why anyone would not want the music from this film to be in the tour, but it is what it is," Siwa continued. "At the end of the day, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna do what I love and I'm gonna sing my songs. Behind closed doors, whatever goes on, that's what goes on."
Siwa first opened up about the situation earlier this month on social media.
"I go out on tour in January. My movie musical was just released (with 6 new original songs)… Nickelodeon told me today that I’m not allowed to perform/add any of the songs from the film into my show. These are MY songs, MY voice, MY writing. Does this seem fair???" Siwa questioned. "There is no reason that this music should not be included. Working for a company as a real human being treated as only a brand is fun until it’s not."
"I want my concert to be the BEST it can possibly be, and I want to perform the songs that YOU have been waiting to hear for 2 years," she added in a second tweet. "Having the music from my movie in my show is important to me, I wish it was important to Nickelodeon. Remember I’m a human, not just a brand."
Even with the ongoing uncertainty about her tour, Siwa told ET that she's "so happy right now" to be competing on Dancing With the Stars. The teen is making history this season as the first celeb to have a same-sex partner, and she and Jenna Johnson did not disappoint during their first outing. Rather, they earned the top score of the night.
"It was so cool! I didn't know when it happened!" Siwa said of getting the highest score. "When [host] Tyra [Banks] said it was the highest score of the night, I lost it."
Dancing With the Stars airs Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
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