Demi Lovato has explained the meaning of her latest song, '29', after it appeared to diss Wilmer Valderrama for dating her at 17.
The singer, who goes by both she/her and they/them pronouns, released the song from her upcoming album, Holy Fvck, this week.
The lyrics suggest that Lovato is referring to her ex-boyfriend, Wilmer Valderrama, who apparently started dating her when she was 17 and he was 29. The pair were in a long-term relationship from 2010-2016.
Speaking to Apple Music's Zane Lowe, the former Disney Channel star addressed the conception of '29', saying: "When I turned 29, I remember I was on vacation, and I just realized I'm 29 now, and it put things into perspective [...] It put everything into perspective. And I'm very careful with the way that I answer these questions because I feel like the song says it all."
While Lovato, who will soon turn 30, neither confirmed nor denied that the song was about Valderrama, the singer did write in an Instagram post that it was about "the wisdom that comes with age."
"Petal on the vine / Too young to drink wine / Just five years a bleeder / Student and a teacher," the first verse of '29' goes. "Far from innocent / What the f***'s consent? / Numbers told you not to / But that didn't stop you."
The chorus' lyrics seem to touch upon Lovato and Valderrama's 12-year age gap: "Finally 29 / 17 would never cross my mind / Thought it was a teenage dream a fantasy / But it was yours it wasn't mine."
Lovato revealed that while she had put a lot of emotion into the song, she was apprehensive about putting it out there, telling Lowe: "I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a ton of anxiety about putting out this song [...] I just said, 'I have to go for this. I have to own my truth.' Yeah. And I do still walk that line very finely."
"I've learned that sometimes saying less is more. And it's taken me to 30 years old to maybe learn that, but here I am approaching the way that I express myself differently in front of the media because it's okay to have boundaries," the singer-songwriter added.
Despite not explicitly revealing whether '29' is about Valderrama, who is now 42, Lovato fans across social media have still made the connection. One Twitter user wrote: "He disgusted me so much [sic] I'm glad demi is finally calling him out."
"They calling out Wilmer omg finally someone is getting his weird ass [sic]," another added.
So far, Valderrama has not yet commented on the speculation surrounding '29'.
Lovato's upcoming album, Holy Fvck, is set to be released on August 19, one day before her 30th birthday.