What's The Real Meaning Of Boyfriend By Dove Cameron? Here's What We Think

When it comes to successful former Disney Channel stars, Dove Cameron is placed high on the list. Having made her debut on the popular teen series "Liv and Maddie," the young talent captivated audiences with her comedic timing and vocal prowess. After her inaugural series ended, Cameron went on to star in the equally popular 2015 original Disney Channel movie "Descendants," which received two highly rated sequels, per Collider. Cameron also stepped into projects outside the Disney sphere, like NBC's "Hairspray Live!," the ABC superhero TV series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," and the 2018 Broadway musical adaptation of "Clueless."

Alongside her fruitful acting career, Cameron began to spend time on her music. As Billboard reported in 2019, she released her first non-Disney-related singles, "Bloodshot" and "Waste." In the following years, the "Barely Lethal" star continued to outline her artistry with infectious pop singles like "Remember Me," "We Belong," and her collaboration with electronic artist Rezz on the 2021 track "Taste of You." While each of these songs caught the attention of loyal fans, it was her 2022 single "Boyfriend" that has truly catapulted her to musical heights.

In January, Cameron released a snippet of her track "Boyfriend" to her millions of followers on TikTok, and the song became a viral hit overnight. The sound was particularly embraced by the LGBTQ+ community, mostly due to its unapologetic sapphic lyrics. Less than a month after "Boyfriend" went live, Cameron finally blessed her fans with the full-length version. (This, too, went viral, eventually garnering roughly 500,000 streams per day on Spotify, as Rolling Stone reported in March). 

Shortly after the release of the track, Cameron took to social media to express the importance of LGBTQ+ visibility. "This means more to me than anything. I feel this in my entire body," she wrote on Twitter. "Queer representation in music, releasing songs the way straight artist sexy love songs about the objects of their affections MATTERS."

Cameron gave further insight into the track in a March interview with The Hollywood Reporter. When asked about her initial reaction to releasing the full record, she revealed that she was "terrified." The reason? "The feeling of having people like something in theory for a week, and then delivering on it, I was ready to die," she explained. Fortunately for Cameron, the track has continued to reach the masses, with it gaining over 30 million streams on Spotify in two weeks, per Rolling Stone. But the song's commercial success wasn't the only thing the singer was worried about.

In her 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron revealed her hesitancy to release "Boyfriend" because it "explicitly" touched on her sexuality. "To me and to the people closest to me, my sexuality is not a revelation. I've spoken about it in the public eye many times, but there's a difference between that and then writing a song as explicit in the expression of your sexuality as this song," she explained. 

Even though "Boyfriend" is Cameron's first explicitly queer single, it isn't the first time she's opened up about her sexuality. Back in 2020, the young star came out as bisexual while hosting an Instagram Live (via BuzzFeed), though the news went relatively under the radar. But in June 2021, in honor of Pride Month, she broke the internet when she came out as queer in a lengthy interview with the U.K.'s Gay Times. "I'm not a label person, but I would say that I am queer, and that's probably my most accurate way to represent myself," she told the publication. She went on to say that her identity doesn't fall under the constraints of who she chooses to "date or sleep with," but rather how she lives her life unapologetically. "I'm choosing to love myself, to be who I am every day and not edit myself depending on the room I'm in," she explained. We love to see an LGBTQ+ artist thrive.

Over the last few weeks, Dove Cameron's rising star has skyrocketed even higher due to her successful LGBTQ+ inclusive single "Boyfriend." Before landing on Billboard Hot 100, the former Disney star previewed the popular track on TikTok, which resulted in the song going viral. In a March interview with Billboard, the singer revealed that she was "dumbfounded" by the track's success. "When it blew up, I was so shocked. I was dumbfounded, jaw on the floor, refreshing the recreates every hour. Like, 'what is going on?'" she explained.

Fortunately for fans, the track's popularity on the aforementioned social media platform helped spawn an accompanying music video, which fans instantly fell in love with. From start to finish, the visual stays true to the song's inclusive message by featuring the signer pursuing a female love interest. As the video progresses, fans are treated to an array of romantic scenes that feature Cameron and her co-star kissing in phone booths and on crowded dance floors.

The singer opened up about the creative process for the visual during an interview with Consequence Sound. "It was very important to me that it's a queer love story from a queer perspective," she explained. Cameron went on to say that she didn't want the video to feel like it catered to the "male gaze" or was "objectifying." "It's still very sexy, and it's still very grimy, and it's inspired by a lot of my favorite films," she added.

While Dove Cameron's latest single continues to make its rounds on the charts and social media, the singer has already explored plans of future music releases. During an interview with Uproxx on April 22, the 26-year-old gave insight into her next release, and what it entails. "The next big move I make, I want to be really sure of — behind it 100% and be intentional about it," she revealed. "So, the idea is to keep collecting songs, and if it shapes up to be thirteen songs, then it's easy, that's an album."

Alongside her musical projects, Cameron is also gearing up for the release of her new film "Good Mourning," which is directed by Machine Gun Kelly. Although her exact role in the movie has been kept under wraps, its recent trailer has hinted that she'll be flexing her comedic chops throughout the project. In an interview with E! News, Cameron described "Good Mourning" as one of her favorite projects. "It's such a fun role because it's really like all of these boys and these different musicians," she explained. "It's kind of like a group of friends that know each other really well, and then like me along for the ride basically the whole film." Between her viral hit single, and future music and film projects, 2022 is certainly looking to be the year of Dove Cameron!