Pop singer, Demi Lovato, debuted her new song, entitled “Commander In Chief”, at this year’s Billboard Music Awards. The performance involved Demi playing the song on the piano, while the word “Vote” appeared on the screen behind her. As you might expect from the title, the song is about our current President and our political system.
The song contains lyrics like, “I’m not the only one, that’s been affected and resented every story you’ve spun.” Another set of lyrics is, “If I did the things you do / I couldn’t sleep, seriously / Do you even know the truth? / We’re in a state of crisis, people are dyin’ / While you line your pockets deep / Commander in Chief, how does it feel to still / Be able to breathe?”
This song is pretty important this year. It is an election year, and many celebrities are encouraging people to vote and endorsing the Democratic Presidential candidate, former Vice-President, Joe Biden.
This year has also been important for the Black Lives Matter movement, with protests breaking out against the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Aubry, among others.
This song isn’t a super surprising release for Demi Lovato. She has been very politically active throughout her career.
Demi endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election, and even performed at one of Clinton’s rallies. In the past, she has also been a vocal advocate for many social issues such as, sexual assault, LGBT rights, feminism, eating disorders, and body image.
Demi is also a queer, Hispanic woman, so her political voice has a lot of value. She is someone who could personally be affected by changes made to society, even though she is a celebrity.
When she was criticized for speaking out so much, Demi responded that she wasn’t concerned about the effect it could have on her public image or career. “I literally don’t care if this ruins my career,” she wrote on Wednesday, October 14, in a time-limited story post. “This isn’t about that. My career isn’t about that. I made a piece of art that stands for something I believe in. And I’m putting it out even at the risk of losing fans. I’ll take integrity in my work over sales any day.”
Demi is not the first pop star to release music condemning the current president, or the government. In 2005, P!nk released a song entitled “Dear Mr. President”, calling out then-President George W. Bush for.
Other songs might not have been written about politicians specifically, but several songs have been written about hot-topic issues. Keith Urban wrote the song, which is about women getting sexually assaulted, in 2017.