BY: DM
Published 1 minute ago
In an interview for PAPER magazine, Demi Lovato says she feels safest and most herself in queer club spaces. Lovato is channeling this new freedom into her music. She’s dubbed this upbeat phase “Popvato” – a return to pure pop fun — and announced a club-ready new album, “It’s Not That Deep,” due this fall.
“I think it’s really a reflection of where I’m at personally,” Lovato told PAPER magazine. “I’m not in this place in my life where I need these huge emotional ballads to release some sort of deep emotional trauma I’m going through.”
Lovato also talked openly about her queer journey and learning to embrace her identity. Here’s a look at what the singer shared about her life after coming out.
Demi Lovato is living her best queer life.
Lovato, who identifies as pansexual, explained that she feels safest in queer spaces. “I love going out with my friends. I love dancing, and I love doing that in queer spaces because it feels safe to me,” she told the publication. “If I were to go to a straight club, it just doesn’t feel as safe. I feel there’s more danger. I feel like when I go to a queer space, I know that I’m with my friends.”
Growing up in conservative Texas gave her ‘a lot of religious shame around coming out,’ Lovato admits. Now, by contrast, “I get to live authentically and be myself, and it feels amazing,” she says.
After years as a teen Disney star and rock singer, Lovato is reclaiming her narrative on her own terms. She proudly rejects the past “hustle” of her Disney days and emphasizes balance and joy. “I learned that I had to hustle. Sometimes looking back, I wish that hustle culture wasn’t as big as it was, because I feel like I would have had an easier time. I was just under so much pressure and so much stress at such a young age that it just wasn’t healthy,” she said.
Demi Lovato joins several former child stars who have come out.
Lovato’s openness builds on a long journey of self-discovery. She first publicly hinted at being queer in 2020, and in May 2021, she officially came out as nonbinary and then pansexual. During an appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience,” Lovato admitted she is still learning and growing, but she’s grateful to finally be “proud” to be part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Lovato is far from alone among young stars who came out. Fellow Disney alum Raven-Symoné — who starred in “That’s So Raven” — publicly came out in a statement in 2014. Meanwhile, “Hannah Montana” star Miley Cyrus announced in 2015 that she identifies as pansexual.
“I think when I figured out what it was. I went to the LGBTQ center here in L.A., and I started hearing these stories,” Cyrus told Variety. “Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, ‘Oh — that’s why I don’t feel straight and I don’t feel gay. It’s because I’m not.’”
Do you think more celebs should be this open about their journeys? Comment below!
