Demi Lovato is giving Taylor Swift her props. The 28-year-old singer released a new political anthem, “Commander in Chief,” on Wednesday and talked about her decision to speak out about her political beliefs in a new interview with CNN.
“You’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. You can list Taylor Swift as a perfect example of that exact saying. For years she got trashed because she wasn’t taking a stance and wasn’t standing up for these rights and she kind of took a back seat and now she’s become very political and there are people that are unhappy with that too,” Lovato said of the 30-year-old “Lover” singer, who recently endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. “It’s just, like, you have to live what feels authentic to you. To me, that’s using my platform to speak out about the things that I see that are wrong.”null
In the past, Lovato has been critical of Swift. In since-deleted tweets, she once wrote of Swift, “At least I speak up about s**t that’s uncomfortable to talk about rather than trying to be politically correct 24/7.”
She also told Glamour in 2016 of Swift, “I think that having a song and a video about tearing Katy Perry down, that’s not women’s empowerment. We all do things that aren’t, but I have to ask myself, ‘Am I content with calling myself a feminist?’ Yes, because I speak out.”
Swift and Perry have since buried their “Bad Blood” feud, while Lovato reached out to Swift last year on social media to praise her Lover album.
“Life’s too short for women not to support other women,” Lovato wrote at the time. “Especially when women release great music. Great job @taylorswift.”
“This is so awesome & put the biggest smile on my face,” Swift responded to the post. “Thank you @ddlovato.”
As for her new political anthem, Lovato isn’t afraid to call out President Donald Trump for what she considers to be injustices made by his administration.
“There’s been so many times that I’ve wanted to write the president a letter or sit down with him and ask him these questions,” she told CNN. “And then I thought, I don’t really actually want to do that and I thought one way that I could do that is writing a song and releasing it for the whole world to hear and then he has to answer those questions to everyone and not just me.”
Lovato also wants to urge her fans of all political parties to vote in this year’s election.
“We have to turn up and vote because it’s so important that our voices are heard,” she said. “And, honestly, for me, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, just get out and vote.”
Ahead of voting day, Lovato will be performing her new politically charged song at Wednesday’s Billboard Music Awards.
And don’t forget, Election Day is November 3, 2020! Head over to Vote.org to register to vote and get the latest information.
