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Topics: Celebrity, Demi Lovato
Lisa McLoughlin
Demi Lovato has responded to speculation her new song 29 is about the age gap between her and her ex-boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama.
The track, off her upcoming eighth studio album Holy Fvck, is widely believed to be about the 42-year-old based off the lyrics which are penned from her perspective at the age he was when they first met when she was 17.
The 'Confident' singer began dating the actor when she was 18, California's age of consent, and he was 29, staying together from 2010 to 2016.
The star, who recently confirmed that she is now using she/her pronouns in addition to they/them, sings: "Finally 29 / Funny, just like you were you at the time/ Thought it was a teenage dream / Just a fantasy / But was it yours or was it mine?"
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Lovato, who has been sober since late 2021, then belts into another verse that she was 'too young to drink wine' when they first started dating.
"Just five years of bleeders, student and a teacher / Far from innocent / what the f**k's consent? / Numbers told you not to / but that didn't stop you," she adds.
Now addressing the song’s subject matter, Lovato said that the ‘song says it all’ before explaining that she’s found new ‘perspective’ after turning 29 herself.
Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe on Wednesday (18 August), the 29-year-old shared: “It put everything into perspective."
"And I’m very careful with the way that I answer these questions because I feel like the song says it all. I don’t have to say too much, to be honest, but turning 29 was a huge eye-opener for me.
"And then, going into treatment and having realizations led to my transformation, my release of the emotion that was put into this song."
She added: "I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a ton of anxiety about putting out this song. I just said, ‘I have to go for this. I have to own my truth.’
"Yeah. And I do still walk that line very finely. I’ve learned that sometimes saying less is more.
"And it’s taken me to 30 years old to maybe learn that, but here I am approaching the way that I express myself differently in front of the media because it’s okay to have boundaries.”
The 'Cool For The Summer' singer last publicly discussed her relationship with Valderrama in 2020 in an interview with Harper's Bazaar after he got engaged to Amanda Pacheco.
At the time, Lovato stated they are 'not in each other's lives' and 'haven't spoken in a long time.'
While speaking about their split, Lovato said: “I think I needed that because I needed to learn to be okay on my own. When you get into a relationship with somebody at that young of an age and then you spend six years with somebody, you don't really get to learn about yourself."
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