Demi Lovato Is Literally Poot Lovato

The lore behind Poot is simple: Lovato attends the 2014 Royal Variety Performance in the UK, an overexposed photo of her is taken and a Tumblr user edits it. They post the newly revised version online in 2015 with the caption, “Demi’s twin sister. She was locked in a basement her whole life. This picture was taken the first time she went outside. Her name is Poot.” The internet goes wild.

Although Lovato previously disdained the meme, in recent years, she has warmed up to her fictional sister. Although she claimed in a 2018 Twitter post that Poot was “locked up” because she was “allergic to sunlight,” in 2023, the artist celebrated her 31st birthday with Poot-adorned cupcakes. As recently as April 2025, she joked on TikTok that she was “never letting [Poot] out” of her basement.

Lovato’s Halloween post featured a face-to-face comparison with her alter ego, a couple of TikToks illustrating Poot’s subterranean life, and a time lapse of her transformation into the character – two makeup artists, a wig and a heap of foundation, the resemblance is more uncanny than the meme itself.

Aside from the internet army that has vied for her return for years, it's clear that Poot has a number of high profile fans in her own right. The post has since elicited elicited reactions from Katy Perry, “You take the crown my dear," Charli XCX, “omg obsessed with you," Alex Consani, "I’m deaddddd," and even Kehlani, “this has sent me to my grave."

Two decades into her career and time in the internet limelight, it’s hard not to admire Lovato’s ability to own the jokes — a skill that she spoke about in an interview for last month’s PAPER cover story, coming out on the other side of them looking even wittier and more in-touch than before. "An incredible, powerful way to take the power back is to own the memes,” Lovato told PAPER. “Because then, if I’m laughing, nobody can laugh at me.”

While some of Lovato’s initial frustration with the meme came from it pulling attention from her simultaneous album release of the time, Confident, her embrace of it in time with her release of It’s Not That Deep sees her invite the meme to become part of the celebration. It’s heartwarming to see that the sisters have made up, perhaps once and for all.

Maybe Poot will be let out of the basement on a yearly basis from here on.

Eleanor Jacobs is PAPER's 2025 Fall Intern

Image via Getty