Demi Lovato’s Secret Female Celeb Hookup Inspired “Cool For The Summer”

During her debut on The Howard Stern Show, Demi Lovato discussed everything from her career evolution to her fascination with aliens. Before delving into their current love life, though, the singer (who uses both she and they pronouns) decided to rewind and spill some tea about a secret past relationship. While sharing the story behind their 2015 hit, “Cool for the Summer,” Lovato revealed, “I was thinking about the hookups that I had had with a girl and decided to write this song.”

Though they confirmed that the woman who inspired the track is also famous — and their romance was never public — the singer left fans to come up with their own theories about her identity. Even the unnamed celeb herself is apparently unaware “Cool for the Summer” is about her. “I’m in a relationship now and I feel like that would be inappropriate,” Lovato replied when the SiriusXM host pressed for more details on their unidentified ex. “I missed the moment. Should’ve said it back then. ... People are going to wonder now.”

The “Confident” singer was much more forthcoming about her current relationship with fellow musician, Jute$ (aka Jordan Lutes), whom she’s been dating since August 2022. “We started off as friends, so we built that foundation of friendship first,” Lovato added, sharing that she sees marriage and a family in their future. “There’s like this partnership there that is just so magnetic, and the way that we laugh together it’s just nonstop. So, I think if you can find someone that makes you feel safe … that you’re so attracted to, that you laugh with constantly, that’s the formula of like a really great relationship.”

In fact, Lovato, who identifies as pansexual, said that they found a level of commitment with Jute$ that they struggled to find with female partners. “What’s happened in the past is like, they just want a hookup and it’s like, I actually wanted something more serious, so it ends up not working,” she elaborated, also sharing that she went through a “phase of dating older men and dating older guys because of [her] daddy issues.”

Nowadays, Lovato and their boyfriend are in “an amazing relationship” and are “growing together and it feels so healthy.” That’s partly why she can now “say with confidence” that she’s moved past her so-called “daddy issues.” That didn’t stop them from playfully revealing the older man who was the subject of an unexpected childhood crush, however. While starring on Barney & Friends when they were 10 years old in 2002, Lovato “got teased at school” because the children’s show “wasn’t cool” anymore — but the “nice” guy in the big purple dinosaur costume always had her back.

“And you know what’s funny? He was really attractive … I had a bit of a crush on him, even at a young age,” she added of actor Carey Stinson, who played Barney for 20 years. “You had to be really muscular because the suit weighs, I don’t know, 50 to 100 pounds. So, he was, like, ripped, and he happened to have a good-looking face.”