Dove Cameron Was “Terrified” To Release Her Hit Queer Single “Boyfriend”

Dove Cameron released her single “Boyfriend” on Feb. 11, and the song has been a success ever since. However, in a March 9 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron revealed she was “terrified” to release the track.

She told THR that the release of the single came about after her record label asked her to tease music on TikTok. So, she pulled out the track, which she’d completed last year, and shared a short clip on TikTok. As of March 15, “Boyfriend” has 80 billion views on the social platform.

However, she struggled with the song’s release, telling THR at one point she thought “Boyfriend” was “a bad song.”

Though Cameron has previously spoken publicly about her bisexuality, “Boyfriend” is the first time the 26-year-old is discussing having relationships with women in her music. On the song, she sings, “I could be a better boyfriend than him.”

Being so open on her music was worrisome for Cameron, who called the song a “queer anthem.” “To me and to the people closest to me, my sexuality is not a revelation. I’ve even 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 told THR.

“I definitely was very like, ‘This is going to crash and burn in 100 ways,’” she continued.

Two weeks after “Boyfriend” dropped, THR reports the bop had 30 million streams on Spotify. Cameron said in her interview seeing people resonate with her song felt “amazing.” “I am also a tiny, weird human who lives in a little house. I’m just trying to figure things out,” she said before speaking on how the release of the song is inspiring her to consider how to use her public platforms.

Cameron first came out in August of 2020. “I went on Instagram Live and said, 'Guys, I really needed to explain something to you. Maybe I haven't said it, but I'm super queer,” she said in a 2021 interview with Gay Times. In the interview, Cameron also noted she wanted to represent her identity in her music.

In addition to music, Cameron also opened up to THR about upcoming acting gigs. She’s starring alongside Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher in Vengeance, a dark thriller written and directed by The Office’s B.J. Novak.

She’s also working on a film called Good Mourning With A U, which is co-written and directed by Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun. The movie will feature Becky G, Pete Davidson, and Megan Fox too.

Describing the film as a “classic throwback stoner comedy,” Cameron tells THR that she didn’t know MGK personally before the project. She says he called her one day after envisioning her for a specific role in the film while writing the script. “I’ve never been so heartbroken to leave a set,” she said of filming the project with MGK.

With multiple projects in the works, it’s an exciting time to be Cameron who seems to be publicly herself more than ever.