On the long list of stan armies you never want to piss off, Demi Lovato’s Lovatics and Taylor Swift’s Swifties rank right below the impressively vindictive BeyHive in their ability to ruin your life on the internet (and quite possibly IRL) in record time.
And for the last three years, the pop stars’ fandoms have been locked in endless Twitter skirmishes, as Swift and Lovato went from friends to outright adversaries, robbing us all of a potentially bop-worthy remix of their songs “Cool For The Summer” and “Cruel Summer.”
But now, Lovato has sent Swift a digital olive branch of sorts (as opposed to Katy Perry’s literal one) on Monday morning, conceding on Instagram that “Cruel Summer” is indeed a “jam” and calling for a pop music ceasefire.
“Life’s too short for women to not support other women.. especially when women release great music,” she wrote alongside some heart and hand-clapping emojis. “Great job.”
And Swift responded in kind, writing, “This is so awesome & put the biggest smile on my face. Thank you.”
While Swift and Lovato and have had an on-and-off friendship over the years, things veered into “Bad Blood”-esque territory when the former Disney Channel star called out Swift for remaining silent on social media during Kesha’s legal battle with Dr. Luke.
After Swift subsequently donated $250,000 to Kesha’s cause, Lovato appeared to criticize the decision to cover her legal costs, seemingly calling Swift’s feminist credibilities into question.
“Take something to Capitol Hill or actually speak out about something and then I’ll be impressed,” Lovato wrote on Twitter back in 2016.
The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer later pushed back against claims she was referring to Swift in the tweet and defended herself on Instagram.
“I’m just tired of seeing women use ‘women empowerment’ and ‘feminism’ to further brands without actually being the ones that have the uncomfortable conversations,” she wrote.
Besides some shady likes and follows on social media over the next couple years, all was quiet on the Swift/Lovato front until the “Lover” singer published an open letter calling out Scooter Braun for his “incessant, manipulative bullying” after he acquired the rights to her first six albums.
At the time, Braun had recently signed on as Lovato’s new manager, putting the two women at odds once again.
Lovato went onto defend the megaproducer on social media, calling him a “good man.” She also urged her followers to consider both sides of the situation and asked fans to “please stop ‘dragging’ people or bullying them.”
“There’s enough hate in this world as it is,” she continued. “Y’all can come after me all you want but I’m always gonna stay loyal to my team.”
And that brings us to last week’s MTV Video Music Awards, when fans went on the attack after Lovato cryptically posted about skipping the Swift-heavy ceremony “for a reason.”
While Swifties were quick to call shade, Lovato was actually referring to her new guest role on NBC’s “Will & Grace.”
“I didn’t ‘shade’ anyone last night. My REASON for not going is because I’m literally living my dream being on Will & Grace rn,” she explained. “so stop reaching thaaaaannnnkkssss.”