JoJo Siwa has defended her transition into a more mature era.
JoJo Siwa has addressed her critics
The 20-year-old star has responded to backlash over her change of style after revealing the next stage of her music career would be more adult.
Addressing her critics, she told E! News: "People are afraid of things they don't know. Things can be scary for people. New things can be very, very scary."
Appearing on the red carpet at the iHeartRadio Music Awards this week, JoJo - who showed off a bold new look with a much darker style from the 'Dance Moms' alumni - insisted she feels blessed to be able to make music.
She added: "Creating art is such a special, special thing, and I'm very lucky that I get to be one of the people in the world that gets to create art."
The former 'Dancing With The Stars' competitor has also received support from the likes of Lil Nas S and Meghan Trainor, which has given her faith that she's making the right change for her career.
She explained: "The way that I'm able to keep going and keep being like, 'Wait, actually what I'm doing is right' is because some of the most respected people in the world have come up to me and been like, 'What you're doing right now is so right. It is what the world needs, and I'm learning from what you are doing right now'...
"Support from people like that means the world to me."
JoJo - who first rose to fame on reality show 'Dance Moms' before finding success on YouTube with the launch of her channel nine years ago - recently made it clear that her next stage will be a departure, and not suitable for all ages.
She shared a video on Instagram which warned: "The following content is not made for children, and may be disturbing or offensive to some viewers."
The clip noted that the project "may contain sexual themes, violence, strong language, traumatic scenarios and flashing lights", adding: "Viewer discretion is advised."
JoJo captioned the post: "Heads up".
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