Demi Lovato’s latest career move is striking a chord, and not all the feedback is music to her ears. The 32-year-old singer revealed she’s shifting away from the rock sound of her last album and returning to the high-energy pop hits that made her a chart-topper.
Speaking about the change, Lovato admitted, “The rock stuff didn’t work for me. And that’s OK. It was a passion project… But this one is fun and I realised what worked for me was ‘Cool For The Summer’ and these other big pop songs. I was like, ‘Why don’t I just go back to that?’ It matches my mood, it feels authentic to where I’m at right now.”
While some praised Lovato for embracing what feels authentic, others didn’t hold back their criticism. Comments poured in on social media, ranging from blunt to downright brutal. “So basically giving up on trying to be interesting huh,” one person wrote, while another took a harsher swipe, saying, “Her music was better when she was on crack.” Another added, “Finally embracing her pop queen role,” while a more supportive fan chimed in, “It’s awesome when artists embrace what truly feels authentic. Can’t wait for the new album.”
Demi Lovato’s Genre Shift Sparks Personal Jab Over Her Gender Identity Journey
However, one jab quickly caught attention online for its personal sting, “Changing genres as much as her gender.” The comment alludes to Lovato’s public evolution with her gender identity and pronouns over the past few years. In 2021, the Grammy nominee came out as nonbinary and announced she would be using they/them pronouns exclusively. By 2022, she shared that she had re-adopted she/her pronouns alongside they/them, explaining that she feels her gender expression can be fluid and that she prefers people use whichever feels appropriate in the moment.
At the time, the singer explained, “So for me, I’m such a fluid person that I don’t really and I don’t find that I am… I felt like, especially last year, my energy was balanced and my masculine and feminine energy so that when I was faced with the choice of walking into a bathroom and it said, women and men, I didn’t feel like there was a bathroom for me because I didn’t feel necessarily like a woman.”
She continued, “I didn’t feel like a man. I just felt like a human. And that’s what they/them is about. For me, it’s just about feeling human at your core. Recently I’ve been feeling more feminine so I’ve adopted she/her again.”
