After Cheat Codes dropped their latest music video for “No Promises” featuring Demi Lovato, Twitter immediately started debating over the hairstyle Demi sports throughout the video.
Many people claim that she is wearing dreadlocks, a hairstyle born in Jamaica that carries deep ties to the Rastafarian religion, according to Cosmopolitan. If that’s the case, then there’s the issue of cultural appropriation, the act of adopting or using the elements of one culture by members of another in an exploitative way, or a way that undermines the significance of the feature in question.
Several Twitter users voiced their uneasiness about Demi’s hair choice.
Not sure how I’m feeling about Demi with dreads in the no promises music video
— JustKeepSwimming (@LilyHaycraft1) May 17, 2017
The demi “twists” thing I feel is about the intent. If the stylist intended for them to look like dreads then that’s the problem
— #1 woman enthusiast (@thotfulstyles) May 16, 2017
Others defended her, saying the hairstyle is actually not dreadlocks, but just twists.
For those who are attacking demi for having “dreads” in the mv.
Dreads vs demi’s hair pic.twitter.com/4gg7m2vrmt— _ (@DemiHoliness) May 16, 2017
Either way, the singer has inadvertently opened up just another conversation on the topic of appropriation and its implications.