Why Demi Lovato ‘Cringes’ When She Watches 1 of Her Old Music Videos
Singer Demi Lovato has released many hit songs and accompanying music videos throughout her career. But she doesn’t look at them all the same way today as she did back then. Discover why one of them makes her “cringe” in retrospect, despite its important message.
Demi Lovato began her singing career in the ’00s
Lovato began acting as a child, starring in the PBS children’s series Barney & Friends in her home state of Texas. However, after she began working with Disney, she signed with the company’s label Hollywood Records. Thus began her chart-topping music career of more than a decade.
The artist released numerous hits via Disney, from her Camp Rock tunes to her solo singles like “Don’t Forget” and “Here We Go Again.” With them came music videos that played on the pop-rock persona Disney helped cultivate for her, something she edged away from in subsequent years.
She’s ‘fully embraced’ her ‘hella queer’ identity
As a Disney Channel star, Lovato was expected to be a role model. So she didn’t address her sexuality until she left the network. “I never said anything,” Lovato told Entertainment Weekly in 2021.
This extended beyond her orientation. “Gender norms and sexuality norms aside, I kind of felt a prisoner to my entire career and childhood growing up in the South as a Christian.”
Despite releasing singles like 2015’s “Cool for the Summer,” deemed a “bisexual anthem,” it took Lovato years to address her sexuality outright. This was, in part, spurred on by her split from fiance Max Ehrich. “Regardless if drama is happening or not, I am too gay to marry a man right now,” she says.
The singer continued. “I don’t know if that will change in 10 years and I don’t know if that’ll never change, but I love accepting myself.” She added, “I’ve always known I was hella queer, but I have fully embraced it.”
Lovato’s ‘Really Don’t Care’ music video was filmed at a Pride parade
Though Lovato hasn’t been entirely open about herself, she has made strides to prove she’s an ally to the LGBTQ community. In June 2014, she attended the Los Angeles Pride Parade. There, she filmed a music video for the fourth single off her album Demi, titled “Really Don’t Care.”
The song, which features singer Cher Lloyd, is lyrically about a breakup, but she repurposed it. “I thought of bullies and the LGBT community who are constantly scrutinized,” she told E! News at the time. “What better place is there than L.A. Pride to celebrate who you are and not really caring what people think?”
Why she ‘kind of cringes’ when she watched the video now
Looking back, Lovato reflects on where she was in her coming out journey when she made “Really Don’t Care.” “I think time is everything,” she said. “The queerness in me was, like, ready to explode when I filmed the music video at Pride. I was so ready to be an activist. And then people would ask me, ‘Why are you so passionate about this?’ And I would clam up, like…”
The artist continued. “When I watch that video, to this day, there’s a part of me that kind of cringes. I wanted so badly to be the person that I am today. I just wanted to find out who I was.”
