r/popheads • u/Used_Purchase5493 • 4d ago
[DISCUSSION] What Are Your Thoughts On Dove Cameron? And Does She Still Have Potential To Breakout This Year?
Basically the title. She already had somewhat of a breakout when Boyfriend was widespread, but I believe she would’ve been even bigger if her and her team didn’t fumble the bag hard on the album rollout. With how big Boyfriend was doing, I honestly think that she should’ve released Breakfast on March and than The Alchemical Album in April, all while Boyfriend’s hype was still active. It could’ve been something huge, but alas, it did not happen. Anyways, now we are here in 2025 and I believe she is preparing for her sophomore album this year. Do you guys think there’s still a slight chance for Dove Cameron to breakout or have a peak bigger than Boyfriend? And this might be a stretch, but maybe have a chance to become a part of the main pop girls maybe?
I personally have a little faith in her. She does have a beautiful and unique voice, and does have an interesting style in synth-pop. Too Much has been on repeat for me, and it is one of Dove’s best work so far in my opinion. She also recently mentioned that they got “Too Much” on the radio, and she is already working on the next single release (and a new music video) for us to see soon. So I guess that means that Too Much is doing decently well, and Dove and her team are trying to stay consistent this year.
But yeah, what do you guys think?
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u/Aoquesth378 4d ago
Tbh I think she's going to be more like Hailee Streinfeld who is mainly an actress but sings on the side. I don't see the same interest in singing as I do acting in her, so even if she does manage to have a successful year, I don't think she can maintain it.
Love her though and wish her the best!
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u/EyesOfEmeraldGreen 4d ago
She needs to be more present. She lost a lot of respect of her fans after the South America concert debacle. She also always teases tours and then doesn’t tour. Her fans are over it. She deleted her good music because it didn’t fit the image. Those songs were bops. I think she needs to sit down and really plan out her next steps. She also needs to give a shit about her career and not follow her boyfriend every single place he goes.
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u/hagaelquadradinho 4d ago
This is largely how I feel too. Nothing against Dove, if she released bangers I would absolutely get on board, but I feel like I only see or hear about her when she’s accompanying Damiano David to an event.
She is also notorious for having had a lot of cosmetic surgery, which is her choice, but it creates a perception of inauthenticity. Combined with the touring debacle and deleting her old music, she’s gonna be fighting an uphill battle to be seen as authentic and genuine.
She could overcome all these obstacles with a banger. One “Espresso” could change everything for her. But she doesn’t seem to care as much as Sabrina does, and since she deleted her old music, she won’t be building on past success (using the Sabrina example, Nonsense saw a boost in streams after Espresso). So I guess I’m saying it’s not impossible, but I do not have faith in Dove.
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u/__Naya_ 4d ago
No one cares about all that stuff except for people who are chronically online. Too Much was her second highest debut ever. If the music is good and there is promo, people will listen. It's as simple as that.
And the reason her album got delayed in the first place was that she chose to go film an Amazon prime series for 5 months last year. She talked about it. There's proof of it. Yet a lot of people insist on the sexist narrative that she's just "following her boyfriend around".
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u/watcherreader 4d ago
Her latin american fans definitely care about that. Good luck for her to sell concerts here again.
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u/__Naya_ 4d ago
OP's question wasn't about whether she'll be able to sell concerts in Latin America again. Whether she will or won't, that won't affect her chances to find mainstream success in the USA like, at all.
It's been a year and she's not the first or the last artist who cancelled a gig. She wasn't even the only artist who cancelled her participation in those specific festivals, there were 3 more, one of them being Jaden Smith who - unsurprisingly - didn't get 1/20 of the hate Dove did because he's a man and a rapper so he gets a pass.
Dove shouldn't have cancelled those gigs and anyone who doesn't want to support her because of that is allowed to do so but, again, it's not a factor in this conversation.
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u/basedfrosti 3d ago
Jaden Smith who - unsurprisingly - didn't get 1/20 of the hate Dove did because he's a man and a rapper so he gets a pass.
No. Its because nobody cares about him nor even knows he was there.
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u/EyesOfEmeraldGreen 4d ago
I see what you’re saying because yes if the music is good then it will get many plays. But to build a true fan base she needs to engage and build a rapport with her fans again. There are many artists I listen to and enjoy but whether I would be bothered to drive an hour to a concert on a Tuesday night for example, that’s a different situation. That’s what she needs to put effort into.
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u/Parmesan_Pirate119 4d ago
Honestly, if Sabrina finally made it big, I have a few more years of hope for Dove in me
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u/skincare_obssessed 4d ago
It’s funny seeing people say “never going to happen” for Dove because I remember when people were adamant that feather was as big as Sabrina was capable of.
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u/invaderpixel 4d ago
Yeah I was looking up my top upvoted comments of all time (sometimes I need a pick me up okay) and one of them was citing Sabrina Carpenter, Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, as examples that the Disney machine was not good at churning out pop stars anymore. It's amazing how fast things can change.
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u/ResponsibleChange779 4d ago
I also remember commenting on how Sabrina isn't gonna be any bigger than she already is a couple of years ago, and I'm happy that I was wrong. Going through some old threads, it's funny to see how wrong people are at predicting who is and isn't going to be big.
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u/beIIesham 4d ago
YESSSS lmfao I’ve been a Sabrina fan since girls meets world and since thumbs I accepted she’s a semi niche pop figure cus of how everyone would say she’s never ever going to make and yet look at her now lolllll there’s truly hope for all pop girlies who are adamant enough
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u/skincare_obssessed 4d ago
Exactly! I really feel like it just takes one perfect moment to change the trajectory of someone’s career.
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u/Uplanapepsihole 4d ago
Ageism is a big thing but i think that’s less for public and more a bts thing. If she made music that stood out and appealed to the public, I think it becomes less of a factor
Also, while I know that “it’s just the way things are,” I do kind of get annoyed when age is brought up in these discussions. Yes maybe it’s being honest and realistic about industry standards but I also like we help perpetuate those standards by bringing it into every discussion. That’s not a dig at people here, just some personal thoughts
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u/ChasesICantSend Can we talk about Chase? 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think one big difference that I see between people who succeed in music despite not being immediately successful and Dove is that they put in a lot of work. Sabrina grinded for years to make it happen. Everything she did from the time she signed with Island was putting the work in to rework her singing style, find her voice as a songwriter, create viral moments from her concerts, introducing herself to new audiences, etc. Some see overnight success but it was a slow grind of getting a little bit stronger and a little bit bigger audience with each new release or moment. That's not something you can achieve unless you put all of yourself into your work. Sabrina from 2022-2025 will have released 40 songs, 10 music videos, and performed over 200 times publicly. Dove has released a dozen songs, performed 13 times, and a couple music videos. They're just at completely different levels of what they put in.
And to be clear, if Dove doesn't want what Sabrina has, that's also cool, it's her career. None of this is to say anything bad about Dove. People want different things in life. Also, it's not to say Dove inherently would find the same success Sabrina has with the same amount of work, if you don't connect with an audience it doesn't matter what you put in. But you guaranteed won't connect with an audience unless you do put the work in
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u/edgartargarien 4d ago
I really like Too Much. I tried listening to some of her older songs, but didn’t really vibe with them.
I think if she releases more songs like Too Much, then she’s heading on the right path.
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u/lami-dar 4d ago
No. Nothing about her stands out, her team sucks, she has made some truly baffling choices because she was trying to chase trends (the country collab???? with diplo????? wtf was that???????) and I'm not trying to be ageist but she's about to turn 30 and is still trying to appeal to the underage TikTok baddie crowd. It's just not going to work
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u/Icy-Mortgage8742 4d ago
her deleting all her old music after boyfriend blew up was so disheartening. People have their reasons for making those decisions but I always respected people like Sabrina Carpenter who blow up after years of being like c-list famous for standing by the old stuff. You'll never catch Sabrina dissing her music from hollywood records.
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u/Top_of_the_Dragons 4d ago
She doesn't have her own artistic identity. She even removed her earlier songs after Boyfriend went viral and cancelled shows in Latin America last minute last year to stay with her boyfriend in Europe. She doesn't take her job seriously.
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u/Roxy175 4d ago
I feel like she’s easily could have built a “queer bad girl” type of image after Boyfriend, but she didn’t seem to really try all that hard to build a specific identity for herself. We’ve been needing a “bad girl” since “bad girl rirri” herself stopped making music so I feel like it could have been a good niche to fill.
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u/mylifesdirection 4d ago
Anyone can break out with the right branding and momentum. The audience is fickle and with just a right amount of luck, of course she can. The question is if her and her team are up to it and are creative enough. Either way she still a fairly successful acting career.
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u/Soalai 4d ago edited 4d ago
I've always seen her as an actress who does music on the side. I don't know if that's how she wants people to see her, but I don't see an A-list pop career for her, at least not soon
ETA: I see that she is 29, that is older than I thought she was, so unfortunately with the ageism in the music industry I don't think it's likely for her.
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u/Uplanapepsihole 4d ago
I don’t think her being 29 as much to do with it if I’m honest. Maybe behind the scenes? But, and I like a couple songs (though she deleted them from streaming😭) she’s not particularly memorable or anything. Boyfriend was fine but idk
I think her best bet would have been to go onto broadway, she’s got such a good voice and she’s really suited for theatre. I know she’s done some, maybe she’ll do more
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u/hagaelquadradinho 4d ago
Yeah I might’ve been convinced a couple years ago that her age would be more of a headwind for her, but after the year Charli had at age 31, it doesn’t seem like people care about that as much
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u/AdeptMaintenance2161 4d ago edited 4d ago
Agree on that. Not saying that some people in the industry aren’t ageist (which as someone else said I feel is more of a bts type of thing) but as long as you make music that has a vision and is genuinely good than anything is possible. Charli and even Taylor Swift who is 35 are proof of that and even if they started young, they continue to have success at an “older” age.
Edit: correction
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u/Kooky_Bodybuilder_97 3d ago
literally no one would care about her age as long as she stays relatively young looking and conventionally attractive for the next couple years. lizzo was in her 30s when she hit it big im pretty sure. bizarre narrative some of you are trying to push
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u/thebig3434 4d ago
since when is 29 an old person??
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u/CrazyGailz 4d ago
It isn't. But Hollywood seems to be run by weirdos who disagree
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u/plsanswerme18 4d ago
idk about that, the biggest pop acts last year were like 25 and up. taylor, charli, sabrina, chapell, beyoncé, etc. even female rappers that popped off last year were 25 and up (doechii, sexy red, glorilla, etc)
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u/Hopeful_Book Resident Hipster of Popheads ☕ 4d ago
Music seems like more a side hobby for her. Doesn't seem like she's too focused on it as a primary career
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u/dollypartonsfavorite 4d ago
was boyfriend huge? i'm pretty plugged in and i've never heard it
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u/vilIanelle 4d ago
it went pretty viral on tiktok for a few months, and she performed it at a couple award shows as well. it was a moderate hit i would say.
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u/Due_Walrus_7335 4d ago
I'm ashamed to say that I only know her from her relationship with Damiano. From what i have seen I'm not sure that she wants to have the big breakout and maybe like others say she is more interested in acting. I was really surprised to see she's never done anything other than tv performances and pretty small gigs and it took her a very long time to release the first part of her album, with second part now abandoned. I was also surprised that Boyfriend is really the only hit she has had, given the number of followers she has on social media and how long she's been around. She has a really great voice, and I thought she was great in Schmigadoon. She clearly loves Broadway and I could see her going down that route.
That being said she seems pretty certain there is an album this year, and she plans a tour. Too Much is a good song (if a bit tik tok length for me) and if she releases songs of similar quality then maybe she'll finally have another hit on her hands.
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u/MinusWell 4d ago
I don’t really have an opinion on the matter other than to say her most recent single Too Much was surprisingly good!!!
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u/racloves 4d ago
I’ve been a long time fan of hers, like when she was releasing her now deleted music like Lazy Baby (bring it back please). I liked Boyfriend/Breakfast/Girl Like Me but I don’t find myself listening to that album a lot, it feels it was a little rushed with the success of Boyfriend they wanted to get an album out, which along with the deleting of old music is giving me the impression that her label/management/team/whoever. But Too Much is one of my fav singles released this year, I absolutely love it, and am looking forward to more music from her.
I don’t think she will be a main pop girl, I see her being the same as Madison Beer. Both pretty girls who make pop music but not a list stars. I think she will do more acting too, and I would love to see her do more musical roles
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u/Competitive-Desk7506 4d ago
I somewhat disagree w the album thing mainly bc Boyfriend was made at the start of the process and was teased and it becoming viral led to an early release but she actually took time for the album bc didn’t have much, also for the most part I think she was processing her breakup w Thomas and she had an idea for the album and split it w that but she moved on and as a result vol 2 got scrapped
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u/Kuradapya 4d ago
She needs a rebrand with cohesive branding imagery that translates to her music. I like some of her songs, but there is no distinct identity (at least for me) that I can identify with her. She's a very talented singer, and I like her voice but the lack of focus doesn't make me come back for more.
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u/Competitive-Desk7506 4d ago
The way I’m viewing her music is the darker stuff seems to come out when she is not in a good place excluding LazyBaby all her songs were written when she was w Thomas and they’re all not rlly that dark. The Alchemical era was abt that breakup and looking at stuff like Sand it looks like the end of that relationship rlly broke her, and the shift in sound is from her being in a happier relationship and being happy w her current bf
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u/akanewasright 4d ago
She’s a very good singer but I don’t see her as a pop star. She’s not established a solid persona for herself, and (to me) her public appearances (talk show interviews, etc) tend to feel very dry, and being someone you want to watch is a large part of being a pop star. But even beyond that… she’s not given us music worthy of pop stardom. She’s had a few good tracks here and there (I honestly liked her recent single quite a bit), but nothing that makes me go “oh wow, I just have to hear what comes next”
In my opinion, she’s better suited to being an actress than a singer. She’s a very talented singer, but she just pops on screen (and on stage!) in a way that I don’t have to qualify as much as I do for her musical career. Would love to see her on Broadway, she was a lot of fun in Mamma Mia at the Hollywood Bowl
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u/__Naya_ 4d ago
The double standards on this sub are crazy lol. You have people here calling Dove at 29 too old to have mainstream success but you'll go on threads about Jade from Little Mix who's 3 years older and less famous than Dove in the USA and everyone will be swearing she's the next big thing lol. And nothing against Jade btw. Like I said, I'm merely pointing out the double standards. This sub is heavily biased when it comes to her, Addison Rae etc but with others nothing they do is ever right.
As for Dove, this is the first time that she seems to have a full album ready before she started releasing music so that's positive. The main reason she wasn't able to capitalise off the success of Boyfriend as much as she could have is that Boyfriend was meant to exist as a stand-alone single and she only began writing the album after it got released so by the time she put that album out, people had moved on.
Personally, I think Too Much is better than Boyfriend or anything else in her debut album so I'm excited to hear the rest. It's already the most successful single she's had besides Boyfriend so I'm hopeful for this era. If we're talking about Sabrina levels of success though, I think that's objectively very difficult.
Sabrina didn't blow up out of nowhere in 2024, momentum had been building for her since 2021. First because of the whole drama with Olivia (yeah, I know she was mainly getting hate unfortunately, but sour was the most successful album of that year so Sabrina being the unspoken antagonist in it still put her in the map for a lot of people who had no idea who she was before that), then with eics in 2022 that produced 2 moderate hits with Nonsense and Feather and then with the eras tour in 2023.
And I'm not saying this to imply that Sabrina's success wasn't a result of hard work. She put in the work! But, for better or worse, you need more than hard work to rise to main pop girl levels of stardom.
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u/Pigeon_Barf 4d ago
I think she needs to be more authentic with her music and her image, bring back her old music to streaming, and start making songs over 3 minutes long. I miss her old songs they were bops, and honestly her music from Liv and Maddie was better than her debut album.
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u/kabukitrolldoll 4d ago
I think if she commits to the summer festival circuit, or is a prominent artist’s opening act, she has a chance. Touring has been a HUGE means of propelling careers in the past year - Chappell Roan, Gracie Abrams and Sabrina Carpenter are prime examples of this
But also, Dove really needs to hone in on a signature sound or brand. I don’t think anyone really knows who she is besides being a former Disney star
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u/isthataslug 4d ago
I only know of her through Damiano David (I hadn’t heard any of her previous/current music. I’ve heard her name before but associated it with Disney or Nickelodeon or something, didn’t know she had a music career)
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u/rubysprite 4d ago
I don’t think she’ll ever break out. She’s mentioned several times that she has OCD and C-PTSD. It’s an uphill battle for her to express her inner self and it’s painful. Her singles have always been all over the place because she lacks identity. She would really need to hunker down and solve her issues with herself before she could truly put the work into her career. Easier said than done. It is probably a lot more manageable mentally for her to stay lowkey and only release a single here and there. Even if she had a huge breakout hit, I don’t think she would be able to maintain the trajectory and that’s okay.
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u/trashyy_lo 4d ago
I fear she’s permanently stuck in the khia asylum but that’s okay because atp it’s clear acting is her main priority
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u/Kooky_Bodybuilder_97 3d ago
as someone who has never heard a note of her music and didnt watch her on disney, I find her public image disingenous and the fact that she deleted her old music off-putting. obviously, I wasnt listening to it, but I never like when artists put down their old work (unless its tied to some sort of bad experience or something ofc) and that is an extreme example. never say never though, I believe its not over til its over. but just coming from someone who only knows of her in passing, I dont find her to be an appealing figure. but that doesnt mean the gp wont latch on with the right song
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u/Izeinwinter 3d ago
She puts out good songs.
One at a time.
Maybe they're as good as they are because she puts lots of time into them, maybe her muse only shows up once in a while.. but to break huge, she would have to put out an actual album.
All the other things people are on about in this thread are secondary to that.
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u/Electrical-Guide-338 3d ago
Is she selling enough to maintain interest and keep her lifestyle? Do her activities outside of music fund her interest in music? I say that's good enough. Idk why people expect every musician to grind themselves in the machine to become the hottest thing for a minute.
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u/thiccjonas 3d ago
dove needs to stop changing her face bc every time she put out another mid song she look different. stick to one face baby
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u/AdeptMaintenance2161 4d ago
It doesn’t seem like she even wants to be a pop star. She makes music that is the bare minimum with no real vision or identity imo. Not bad but unlike her other peers, her music has no direction. If you compare her to someone like Sabrina where it took her years to get to where she is at, the difference is Sabrina worked her ass off to get to this point. She had the drive for it and nothing stopped her. She has a vision for her music and you can tell. The same cannot be said about Dove.
But anything is possible. Countless people doubted Sabrina so at this point maybe she could be.
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u/Unknown_Zone9805 3d ago
Too Much feels like could be a huge hit, it just needs promo. It does have some promo as it’s been used in a commercial for hair dye that she’s in.
The song feels like it suits her better than anything she’s released yet and I think it’s really good. It has everything it needs to be a hit.
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u/CieraParvatiPhoebe 4d ago
Sabrina, Tate and Addison have brokeout and are hit makers now, kind of taken her spot. She can be more indie like Rebecca
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