Singer/songwriter Demi Lovato attends the 2018 Billboard Music Awards 2018 at the MGM Grand Resort International on May 20, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo by LISA O’CONNOR / AFP) (Photo credit should read LISA O’CONNOR/AFP/Getty Images)
Demi Lovato has managed to convert the relentless, inexpressible rage people feel towards Donald Trump into a song that calls out his response to racial justice, COVID-19 and much, much more.
The 28-year-old dropped her politically tinged track “Commander in Chief” Tuesday (13 October), a ballad timed for just weeks ahead of the presidential election.
The song, which Lovato co-wrote, features the lyrics: “Do you even know the truth/We’re in a state of crisis/
“People are dying/While you line your pockets deep/Commander in Chief/How does it feel/To still be able to breathe?”
Demi Lovato has one clear message for Donald Trump: ‘Bring it on.’
Coming amid Trump’s bungled handlings of both the waves of unrest that shuddered the States in response to the death of George Floyd, as well as a global pandemic, Lovato explained to CNN why the time was now to release the song.
“There’s been so many times that I’ve wanted to write the President a letter or sit down with him and ask him these questions,” she said.
“And then I thought, I don’t really actually want to do that and I thought one way that I could do that is writing a song and releasing it for the whole world to hear and then he has to answer those questions to everyone and not just me.”
Is she concerned that Trump may take aim at her for her public (and pretty catchy) criticism of him? “Bring it on,” she said.
“Prove to them you’re exactly who I said you are in the song. Just do it, go for it.”
She sought to stress that her aims for the song aren’t to ratchet-up tensions, but rather encourage listeners to hit the polls come 3 November.
“We have to turn up and vote because it’s so important that our voices are heard,” she said.
“And, honestly, for me, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, just get out and vote.”