NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Dove Cameron's latest single starts with the sound of maniacal laughter and then a piano riff that could have been swiped from 鈥淭he Phantom of the Opera.鈥� She's just getting started.
鈥淟ethal Woman鈥� is a club banger about a woman 鈥渟harp as a knife under the table鈥� that includes sounds of banging on a door, a gun being cocked and heavy production elements. The lyrics include the playful rhyme: 鈥淕ame recognizes game/By the way, what鈥檚 your name?鈥�
鈥淲e threw everything including the kitchen sink into that song,鈥� Cameron tells The Associated Press ahead of its release, the latest track from her debut album due Dec. 1,
鈥淚 think my favorite thing about the song actually is that we switch keys like six times and you hardly really notice,鈥� she says, laughing. 鈥淚t just adds this kind of unhinged quality that to me just really takes us over the top.鈥�
鈥淎lchemical: Volume 1鈥� contains six new songs and two previous hits, 鈥淏oyfriend鈥� and The second volume could come as early as the top of next year. The title is inspired by the transformation of matter.
鈥淚n this first half, it鈥檚 very much about exploring all the different sort of versions and avenues of yourself as you鈥檙e growing and changing and transmuting into something else,鈥� she says.
鈥淟ethal Woman鈥� may be a bit unhinged but it's the sound of a young artist enjoying herself, embracing naughtiness, adding a sprinkle of her beloved Broadway and strutting away with a switchblade on her hip.
鈥淢usic should be always like an ever-changing grand adventure. You鈥檙e doing it because you鈥檙e having way too much fun or because it鈥檚 scratching some emotional itch,鈥� she says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like when you鈥檙e a kid," she adds. "What would I do if I just had no rules? And that鈥檚 kind of like what a lot of the album ended up sounding like.鈥�
Cameron has had a heady few years, winning new artist of the year honors at the 2022 American Music Awards and being named Best New Artist at the 2022 VMAs. She also was s scene-stealer in playing a parody of Sally Bowles in 鈥淐abaret.鈥�
The album breaks Cameron's rule about ballads. She has hated them for herself and wasn't willing yet to go to any vulnerable places. If she heard a sad song, her day was over.
鈥淚 wake up in the morning and I listen to the most loud, aggressive, someone鈥檚-working-in-a-car-body-shop that you鈥檝e ever heard,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f I don鈥檛 feel like I鈥檓 being thrust out of a cannon, I just won鈥檛 get out of bed.鈥�
But as she's matured, that stance on ballads has shifted. On the new album is "Sand,鈥� a slow-burning, wistful track about an ex that contains the lovely lines: 鈥淵ou have more pieces of me than the desert has sand/And I have less pieces of you than I can hold in my hand.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e sort of learned to reclaim what actually has happened and learn how to be able to talk about it in a way that feels vulnerable and that feels more honest. A lot of the album started going in that direction,鈥� she says.
Cameron first gained fame on Disney鈥檚 children's show 鈥淟iv and Maddie鈥� from 2013 to 2017, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award in 2018. She also starred on Disney鈥檚 鈥淒escendants: Wicked World鈥� from 2015 to 2017, while juggling the launch of her music career.
Cameron debated about whether or not to include her queer anthem which reached No. 16 on Billboard鈥檚 Hot 100 in the summer of 2022. She added it because it is such an important song for her, a milestone in her evolution.
鈥淚 always knew I was queer, but that鈥檚 a challenging thing to talk about, even in your own small social sphere, your family,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen 鈥楤oyfriend鈥� came about, it was one of those things that had been boiling, bubbling up in me that felt like something I needed to address and express.鈥�
鈥淏oyfriend鈥� 鈥� with the sly, witty lyrics 鈥淯p all night, I won鈥檛 quit/Thinking I鈥檓 gonna steal you from him/I could be such a gentleman/Plus all my clothes would fit鈥� 鈥� was the announcement of Cameron's real self. She says she had until then felt the need to be small, chaste and palatable.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 taking up any space. And in my own life I was really diminishing myself because it felt like the right thing to do as someone who had never done anything different,鈥� she says.
鈥淚t really did feel like I stepped into a new reality where I was actually allowed to be myself 鈥� because I allowed it.鈥�
___
Mark Kennedy is at
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
