FINAL GIRL

FINAL GIRL

The black sheep of the Gen Z flock of Disney stars turned pop stars, Dove Cameron followed her starring roles on Liv and Maddie and Descendants with 2023’s Alchemical: Volume 1, an EP of gothic pop led by her breakthrough hit “Boyfriend.” Cameron’s long-awaited debut album FINAL GIRL is slightly sunnier: Lead single “when in rome,” a head-over-heels synth-pop love song that’s equal parts New Order and Carly Rae Jepsen, nods to her recent Tuscan wedding with the Italian musician Damiano David. (The pair first crossed paths at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, where Cameron won Best New Artist.) The 30-year-old singer embraces all things dark, vampy, and vulnerable—exposing abuse over flamenco handclaps on “hands of man” (“Not all men, but too many”) or digging back into her childhood on “silver screen baby” to tell a bittersweet story of naive Hollywood dreams.