Pastels (Dove Cameron album)

Pastels is the upcoming fourth studio album by American singer and actress Dove Cameron. It is scheduled to be released sometime in either 2023 or 2024. Five singles have been released from the album, "Heaven Can Wait", "Forever & Ever", "If You Cross Me", "Not Over You" and "Head In The Clouds", featuring Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber. The sixth single from the album, "Do It For Her", is set to be released sometime in 2023. It will feature Adele.

Background
Following her highly successful second and third studio albums, Cameron announced she would be taking a break from making music. It wasn't until October 2022, two years after the release of Hearts and Wonderland, that she began recording her fourth studio album. She then began posting pictures from the set of the song's music video on February 1st. She announced on February 9 that she would be releasing "Heaven Can Wait" and "Forever & Ever" at midnight. "Heaven Can Wait" was officially sent to radio on February 14, 2023, while "Forever & Ever" was not sent to radio as an official single until March 20, 2023. According to Cameron, the song "fixed [her] radio reputation", following the poor performance of "Heaven Can Wait". She soon announced that she would be releasing a third single from the album, titled "If You Cross Me".

"If You Cross Me" premiered on Beats 1 on April 28, 2023, and subsequently released for digital download and streaming by Disruptor Records. After performing "If You Cross Me" at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, Cameron announced she would release a new single over the summer. Cameron began dropping hints though her Instagram account, mainly by capitalizing seemingly random letters. Without any prior announcement, Cameron released "Not Over You" through digital download and streaming services.

Cameron and Sheeran met during Coachella in 2022, and when hosting The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Sheeran revealed that "Head In The Clouds" had originally been written as a solo song for Cameron. However, she insisted that he do a collaboration with her.According to Bieber, he was a late addition to the song. However, when Sheeran had told him about the song, Bieber was interested and had written lyrics of his own which Cameron liked enough to feature him on the song. The song was announced just four hours before its release through Cameron's Instagram story, in which she states that she has a very special song being released in a matter of hours, before Sheeran pops out from underneath the bed, followed by Bieber.

During a radio interview, Cameron announced that she would release another single before the album officially came out titled "Do It For Her", featuring Adele. On the album, the solo version will be included rather than the one featuring Adele.

Artwork
The album art features Cameron in a stringy white dress, with straight pink hair.

Composition
Cameron described the album as an experimental album, in which she tried both old and new sounds, sometimes mixing two together. According to a leaked song listing on the Universal Music website, there is at least one rap/hip-hop song on the album.

Singles
"Heaven Can Wait" was released on February 10, 2023. The song debuted and peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite having a positive start on streaming and digital download services (reaching the top spot on Apple Music, Spotify, ect.), it quickly fell after a negative reaction from both critics and fans. The track spent a total of twelve weeks on the chart before dropping out, spending its final week at number ninety-six. The song became Cameron's first number one single on the Billboard Pop Digital Songs charts in April 2023. Directed by Aaron A, the music video for "Heaven Can Wait" was released on February 14, 2023. The video begins with a shot of Cameron in her house, casually sitting on the couch. She turns on the radio, and the song begins to play. At this point, the lighting becomes much more vibrant and fun. She then prances around the neighborhood with a magic wand, adding color to people's lives.

"Forever & Ever" was released as a promotional single alongside "Heaven Can Wait", on February 10, 2023. The song debuted at number thirty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained in the upper half of the chart while "Heaven Can Wait" continued to drop. It was released as an official single on March 20, 2023. After this, the song went from number forty-eight to a new peak of number twenty-seven. However, the song wasn't as commercially successful as Cameron's previous singles, usually staying at a mediocre level on the Billboard Hot 100. It was mainly powered by strong and consistent radio play.

"If You Cross Me" premiered on Beats 1 on April 28, 2023, and subsequently released for digital download and streaming just one hour later.x. In the United States, "If You Cross Me" debuted at number one on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart during it's first week, based solely on its first three days of radio airplay. The following week, the song made its Billboard Hot 100 debut, reaching its peak of number twelve. It topped the charts in Norway, Sweden and Denmark and entered the top 5 in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. The song also peaked at number seventeen in New Zealand. Mathew Cullen directed the song's music video, which was released on April 30, 2023. It features Cameron in an amusement park called "Cross" with a lover. They constantly get into fights, even after getting home from the amusement park. It was nominated for four awards at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Cameron promoted the song with live performances at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards and the season finales of The Voice and American Idol as well as the season premiere of America's Got Talent.

"Not Over You" was released as the fourth single from the album on June 16, 2023. It debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 88, powered by its first three days of airplay, and later became Cameron's second number-one single in the United States. The reigned the charts for six consecutive weeks and nine weeks, overall. The song received a polarized response from music critics. Its music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and upon its release on YouTube, it attained the most views in its first 24 hours of release, more than any other music video on the site at that time. The song is a pop ballad which lyrically discusses the deterioration of a relationship and not being able to get over that relationship.

"Head In The Clouds" was released on July 19, 2023. It peaked at number-one on the singles charts of around 39 countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100 (later becoming the best performing song of 2023), as well as the UK, Australian and Canadian singles charts. It stayed at number one for a record-breaking 29 consecutive weeks on the Canadian Hot 100, as well as 27 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and 24 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. On March 10, 2024, the song became the first song to hit 5 billion streams, and the most streamed song on Spotify. It was the best-selling song of 2023 and the decade in the UK. "Head In The Clouds" was the best selling-song of 2023 and the best selling digital song worldwide, with combined sales and track-equivalent streams of 53.2 million units according to IFPI. The song won three Grammy Awards: Record of The Year, Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. A radio edit was released for digital download in 2023. On July 27, 2023, a music video was released to accompany the song. It features Cameron as she flirts with both Sheeran and Bieber. However, the two soon find out about each other, causing trouble for Cameron.

Track listing
The album is set to have 19 tracks.