JoJo Siwa and Everleigh LaBrant. Tony DiMaio/MEGA
YouTube stars Cole and Savannah LaBrant released their daughter Everleigh’s first song earlier this month, which sparked backlash from social media users almost overnight.
Cole, 27, and Savannah, 30, premiered their 10-year-old’s music debut — a pop track called “Like Taylor Swift” — on September 4. Immediately, listeners criticized the song via TikTok for its overuse of autotune and only listing Taylor Swift’s hits.
“Mу hair іs blоwing through thе wind / Taylor Swift on the radio all weekend,” Everleigh, who performs under the moniker “Everleigh Rose,” crooned in one verse. “Sweet tea, sweet sixteen, on my trampoline / All summer long I play my favorite song. … Every single day all I wanna do is this / and do it like Taylor Swift.”
In the first chorus, Everleigh sang that she wanted to “do it like” several of Swift’s songs, including “Love Story,” “Bad Blood,” “Dear John,” “Look What You Made Me Do” and “You Belong With Me.”
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Several TikTok users even compared the track to Rebecca Black’s viral “Friday” video from 2011.
JoJo Siwa, who appeared in several of the LaBrants’ past YouTube videos, clapped back in Everleigh’s defense.
“Saying all of this with love. As the now 20-year-old who was once the 10-year-old growing up in front of the Internet, I wanna say to anyone that’s been saying negative things about this song or Everleigh herself: Lose your ego and grow up,” Siwa, who grew up on Dance Moms before becoming a pop star, wrote via TikTok. “First, this song is adorable (and insanely catchy). And second, bullying isn’t cool, it’s not funny and it’s not trendy ever … especially when it’s directed at a 10-year-old and her first song by people much older than her. Some even adults.”
JoJo Siwa
Siwa further slammed critics, noting they “should be embarrassed” for publicly bashing the video.
“I also, without a doubt, can say that Everleigh is one of the kindest and hardest working kids I’ve ever had [the] joy of getting to be around and she absolutely deserves all the love and success she has.”
In her TikTok video, Siwa rocked out to “Like Taylor Swift” in her car and couldn’t help but sing along. “To anyone who has said anything negative about this song … you need to calm down,” the “Kid in a Candy Store” singer wrote in a caption.
Neither Everleigh nor her family have addressed the musical backlash.
Cole and Savannah — who wed in 2017 — share four children: Everleigh, Posie, 4, Zealand, 3, and Sunday, 14 months. (Savannah welcomed Everleigh with a past partner; Cole is her stepfather.)
