Sixteen years ago, Demi Lovato needed only two words to make an entire generation of Disney Channel fans drop their wands and pick up their detective hats: 'Ask Taylor'. Now, Lovato and Selena Gomez are back to serve a dose of blush rather than lore answers.
The childhood friends reunited for Gomez's Rare Beauty with the limited-edition Delena Soft Pinch Blush Bundle, released on 28 October. Priced at $50, it pairs Gomez's favourite Hope liquid blush with Lovato's pick, Virtue, plus a Soft Pinch Blush Brush.
The campaign went straight for the millennial nostalgia vault. Gomez and Lovato recreated their old YouTube vlogs and revisited their 2009 Disney Channel movie Princess Protection Program, tiaras and fishing rod included.
Yet amid all the celebrating, one relic from a much messier chapter resurfaced online. Under a Reddit post about the reunion, one person also only needed two words to summon the lore all over again: 'Ask Taylor'.
What Did Demi Lovato Mean by 'Ask Taylor'?
Gomez and Lovato's friendship predates Disney Channel fame. They met as children while appearing on Barney & Friends and later became virtually inseparable as teenage Disney stars, even uploading homemade YouTube videos together.
Then came 2010. While Lovato was signing autographs outside a London hotel in January that year, a fan asked, 'How's Selena?' Lovato reportedly turned back, smiled, and delivered the response that would follow all three women around the internet for years: 'Ask Taylor'.
The Taylor in question was widely presumed to be Taylor Swift, whose friendship with Gomez was becoming increasingly visible around the same era. Fans consequently theorised that Lovato felt pushed aside as Gomez grew closer to Swift, turning 'Ask Taylor' into shorthand for the alleged Delena fallout.
There was plenty of teenage-pop-star crossover to fuel the theories. Gomez and Swift became famously close, while Lovato would date Joe Jonas, Swift's ex-boyfriend, later in 2010. However, neither Gomez nor Lovato has confirmed that Swift caused their friendship to fracture.
Reality was also more complicated than the internet's favourite love-triangle-of-friendship theory. Reportedly, Lovato later revealed that Gomez reached out to her during a difficult period toward the end of 2010.
Delena Is Making Each Other Blush Again
Their friendship would continue through several public reunions and periods apart. In 2020, Lovato said she still loved Gomez but that they were no longer friends. Six years later, the story looks much more blooming and blushing.
Gomez attended the opening night of Lovato's 'It's Not That Deep Tour' in Orlando in April, later sharing backstage photos and praising her friend's performance. The pair also re-followed each other on Instagram.
Always up to date on the grapevine, the internet is having a very millennial field day. 'As a generation, we are HEALING!' one Reddit user wrote, while another admitted, 'Are they nostalgia-baiting me hook, line, and sinker? Well yes!'. When you look at it that way, that must explain the fishing rod in the photo.
One particular Reddit user was clearly rooting for the friendship all along, saying: 'I KNEW it was just a matter of time! UGH!'
Sixteen years later, if anyone happens to have a question about Selena or the new Rare Beauty campaign, ask Demi.
