Since the beginning of her career, Demi Lovato has spoken out against bullying and her passion has not dwindled a bit. The youngest X Factor judge has joined the Secret Deodorant’s Mean Stinks movement to help raise awareness and reach out to young girls, in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month. Secret Mean Stinks has launched a new ‘Gang Up for Good’ hub to bring girls together to share stories and exchange #NiceAdvice.
Collegiettes can join the movement by making a pinky swear like they’ve never made before – the blue pinky swear. They can join by painting their pinky nails blue and pinky swearing a friend to stand up to bullying and help bring an end to drama in their school and community.
Her Campus had the chance to speak with the campaign’s newest spokesperson, Demi Lovato.
HC: Can you tell our readers about Secret Mean Stinks campaign?
DL: I think that Secret Mean Stinks campaign is really raising awareness to young girls and other people in the world. We’re raising the awareness of bullying and cyber bullying and how serious it is. Not only are we doing that, but we’re also providing girls with the opportunity to meet other girls on the website, MeanStinks.com. There’s so many things they can learn from that website. They can listen to stories from other people. We’re providing them with outlets.
HC: What does ‘Gang Up for Good’ mean to you?
DL: Gang up for good – for me, it means to instead of ganging up on other people, you gang up and come together, you… gang up for good. [laughs] I don’t know, I think it’s really important for girls today to try to focus on being positive rather than being catty and trying to cause drama between one another.
HC: You’ve spoken out about your experiences with bullying growing up. Why is it so important to you to take part in campaigns like Secret Mean Stinks?
DL: It’s really important to me because I went through bullying when I was younger and I didn’t have anyone to really look up to or anyone to turn to. This is the time when cyber bullying was just beginning to take off. I think our generation has it more challenging when it comes to the topic because when my parents were younger, they didn’t have the Internet. Bullies either – not that this is okay – but they would either throw them in a trash can or take their lunch money and things like that, but now the term ‘bully’… when I think of the term ‘bully,’ I think of a young teenage girl who’s careless of the way she’s treating other young girls in her grade. A lot of the ways that people are trying to harm their peers are through things that they say on the Internet.
It’s important to me because I didn’t have anyone to look up to and I just want my young fans to know – and older fans if they’ve been through it before and are out of school – I want them to know that this isn’t okay and that it needs to stop. Someone has made it through and they can to.
HC: How can our readers get involved with the campaign and stand up to bullying?
DL: Readers can gang up for good. They can learn more about Mean Stinks by going to MeanStinks.com. They can read stories, they can learn new tips and advice from people on the website who have been through the same thing.
HC: What does #NiceAdvice mean and what is one piece of #NiceAdvice you have to share with your fans?
DL: #NiceAdvice are just little tips and easy ways to kind of change your mood and affect everyone in your grade in a positive way. It’s all about taking leadership and being a good influence on the people in your grade. It’s important that even if you’re the only one at your school that’s doing this, just step out of your comfort zone and just try to do something that you know can possibly help other people and make an impact on other people’s lives. They’re just little tips and some of them are really simple and some of them are a little bit harder, but overall, they’re really easy things you can do to make your day better and be less drama-filled.
One of my favorite #NiceAdvice is I love it when I smile at a stranger, whether I’m next to them or if I’m driving in the car and I dance silly. Making somebody that I don’t know smile or laugh and brightening somebody else’s day, even if only for a few seconds, is still worth it.
HC: What can fans expect to hear in your fourth album?
DL: You know, I don’t know, I’m working on it right now. Right now, it’s about identifying the sound that I want to have on this next album and I want it to be a lot more musical with more instruments, not so much just dance music – maybe a little edgier, but more, I don’t know, just authentic, in a way.
HC: Has being a judge on X Factor and hearing all these different singers and styles affected the direction you want to go in?
DL: Definitely. I think it would be really hard not to let it influence you in a way. For me, it’s just inspiring. I get to learn so much more while I’m doing this job. It just happened to fall in with the timing and making this work out. Everything I’m learning, I’m trying to put into consideration while I’m writing this new album.
HC: What are you most excited about the upcoming X Factor live shows?
DL: I’m really excited to see one of the contestants from my team win. I’m so excited!
HC: How would you describe the dynamic among the judges?
DL: Between the judges, we all have a really great time. We are devoted to finding the person that needs and deserves to win this competition. We all have such a great time together. Everyone’s really sweet. Everyone’s really nice. It’s awesome that we can focus on the contestants rather than on ourselves.