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Demi Lovato & Halsey Might Be Engaged in the Most Passive-Aggressive War of Words Ever

Halsey is very frank about the problems surrounding bisexuality in today’s music scene, as seen in her interview with Paper magazine for their Pride issue. As an openly bisexual artist, she’s had the unfortunate experience of having hate and shade thrown her way, especially from those who claim she uses bisexuality to sell albums. It’s clear that the “Closer” singer is sick of the narrative. While not naming any artist in particular, she was quick to call out the heterosexual women who exploit bisexuality for their music. Readers connected the dots, and one name that came up was Demi Lovato. From the looks of a recent tweet, Demi has claimed the blame, but she’s not having it. 

Paper pointed out that the closest thing bisexual women have to representation in pop music comes from heterosexual women, who treat it as more of a fun, wild experiment. Halsey responded, “Oh, yeah. Bisexuality as a taboo. ‘Don’t tell your mom’ or ‘We shouldn’t do this’ or ‘This feels so wrong but it’s so right.'” Sound familiar?

Demi, who hasn’t labeled her sexuality for the public, incorporated bisexuality and experimentation into her 2015 hit “Cool for the Summer.” In the song, Lovato sings, “Tell me if it’s wrong / If it’s right / I don’t care / I can keep a secret could, you?” and “Don’t tell your mother / Kiss one another / Die for each other / We’re cool for the summer.” While not mentioning Demi specifically, Halsey seemed to be making a nod to Lovato’s song by mentioning the phrase “don’t tell your mom.” Yikes.

Demi, likely catching wind of the interview, took to social media last week, tweeting, “You know a song is a hit when people are still talking about the lyrics two years later. #shhhhdonttellyourmother.” 

Since it’s not clear whether Halsey was calling out Demi, we also can’t be certain Lovato was directing this tweet at Halsey. It is, however, quite shady and, as indicated by the hashtag, Demi made a point to include “Cool for the Summer” lyrics.

So, was this subtweet a clapback to the shade Halsey might’ve thrown her way? Halsey definitely seems not ~cool~ with these lyrics, and Demi is not taking her accusations lightly. 

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Amanda graduated from Carthage College with a Bachelor's degree in both Communications and Public Relations. She also proudly served as the Editor in Chief of her college's Her Campus chapter, and as a Her Campus Editorial Intern. She is from Chicago, Illinois, which she can confirm is indeed a windy city. Today she can still be found furiously tapping away at her laptop keys and producing content for the internet. In her spare time she enjoys reading books (before watching their Netflix or movie adaptions), running for fun (yes, it can be fun) and spending time with her friends and family.