By Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer-songwriter and actor Dove Cameron is breaking away from her Disney star persona and putting a new version of herself out there with “Alchemical: Volume 1,” the first part in her debut studio album.
“Alchemical: Volume 1,” which has eight songs, including “Sand,” will be released on Dec. 1.
The former child star, who appeared in Disney’s 2015 film “Descendants,” its sequels and TV spin-off for many years, has been reflecting on her self-growth since her days as a kid working in Hollywood.
“Growing up in the public eye, I trained my brain to think first about what other people wanted from me rather than what I knew I needed,” Cameron said in an interview.
“When you start that young, and your whole life is cataloged and interpreted in a way that might not actually be reality, I think you start to look at things from an external point of view and you start to reject your own personal experiences as being valid,” she added.
In 2022, she released her first non-Disney hit song called “Boyfriend,” which served as an avenue for Cameron to share with the world that she’s part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Boyfriend” is based on events from Cameron’s life that helped shape her sexuality and was performed during the 2022 American Music Awards (AMAs) the same night she won new artist of the year.
“I just decided, it’s now or never,” Cameron said.
“I was really grateful with how people responded,” she added. “Still, obviously there’s still quite a lot of negativity around it, but I just think when it’s for yourself, you can’t find issue with that.”
After releasing “Boyfriend,” Cameron decided to delete all her previous song-writing work from streaming services, as she felt it didn’t represent who she was anymore.
The Daytime Emmy-award winning actor feels that she is in an “amazing place in her life” now where anything feels possible for her, which means not conforming to a certain image.
Looking back, her Disney brand, as well as other personas in her career, felt “unhealthy” for her, she said. Cameron said she now wants to evolve into whatever version of herself feels right.
(Reporting by Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway; Editing by Mary Milliken)
