Dove Cameron’s Queer Anthem ‘Boyfriend’ Poised for Grammy Love: ‘Mind-Blowing,’ Says Singer
Ellise Shafer When Dove Cameron sat down to write “Boyfriend,” the 26-year-old singer-actor thought no one would ever hear it. “It was my first foray into trying to write for myself,” Cameron tells Variety. “I was like, ‘I just want to write a song that I know no one’s gonna hear, just for me as an experiment.’” Then Cameron teased the demo on TikTok, and it went viral.
Released on Feb. 11, “Boyfriend” quickly became a queer anthem, with its bold chorus proclaiming: “I could be a better boyfriend than him/ I could do the shit that he never did.” The track came to dominate mainstream formats as well, reaching No.
2 on Top 40 radio and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. And with an MTV VMAs new artist win under her belt, Cameron — who won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2018 for her dual role as the eponymous characters in the Disney Channel series “Liv and Maddie” — is now generating Grammy buzz for that same category.
Below, Cameron discusses the success of “Boyfriend,” using her platform to speak on politics and her blossoming acting career. You’ve had a crazy year with all the success of “Boyfriend.” What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned? It’s been really wild and kind of hard for me to wrap my brain around.
