Dove Cameron didn't expect her queer anthem, "Boyfriend," to blow up on TikTok, and that will forever change how she releases music.
Speaking to Billboard, the singer recalled sharing a nine-second clip to TikTok, which went viral. She admitted, "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?' It was like somebody put a spell on the song."
Dove added, "I never thought it would end up on the EP, if I'm being honest," referring to her forthcoming, as yet untitled first project. "I was telling the story of this crazy night I had a couple weeks before that. And in the middle of recounting this insane story I think I casually said something to the room like, 'F***, I could be a better boyfriend than this guy.'"
She continued, "A lot of it became a report of what it felt like to grow up queer and be surrounded by all these women who were famously mistreated and under-celebrated."
Dove also said her EP was partly inspired by "a lot of my male cinematic classic villains in some of my favorite films. Not their story, but the mood. Everything is very influenced by cinema for me. And 'Boyfriend' is very orchestral, the big crashes and swells and the horns in the production."
Dove revealed TikTok will now play a bigger role in her music releases: "I have a new song called 'Breakfast' and I’m going to test how people feel about the hook." If they like it, she'll release it.
"It’s an amazing immediate feedback loop we’ve never had in the industry and it’s going to allow me and other artists to release music more immediately," she declared.