Dove Cameron paid tribute to her late Descendants costar Cameron Boyce in her new song “Maybe Heaven Is a Jazz Club.”
“I think it became really special, too, when we put Cameron in the second verse ‘cause that wasn’t part of the plan,” Cameron, 30, recalled of the songwriting process on the Friday, November 13, episode of The Zach Sang Show. “ I didn’t have a second verse written, and when it got to that point, I had already started writing about, like, ‘Tired feet are never sore’ and all of these sort of dance things.”
Remembering how Boyce was an ”incredible dancer” during her lyrical session, the pop star soon realized the song would finally be complete with a recording of the late performer’s voice. (Boyce died in 2019 after suffering a seizure in his sleep. He was 20.)
“’Cause I met him at the jazz club / We’re playing for you from above / Yeah, I’ve seen him on the dance floor / Oh, he can’t get enough,” she sings in the chorus. “Tired feet are never sore / Crowd is begging him for more . Angel, you’re the one we’re waiting for / Baby, heaven is a jazz club.”
The song ends with Boyce saying, “So, we’ll see you very soon.”
Before including Boyce’s voice in her song, Cameron reached out to his family for permission. (Cameron has remained close to Boyce’s parents, frequently attending his namesake foundation’s gala and inviting them to her wedding to Damiano David.)
“Being able to include him was really special and having his family’s permission to have his voice on there. I played it for everybody,” she said on Friday. “I wanted them to like it, of course, [because[ I wanted them to feel represented and respected. It’s just, like, my dream way to end the whole record. I think it’s such a special song.”
In addition to honoring Boyce, “Maybe Heaven Is a Jazz Club” also pays tribute to the Liv and Maddie alum’s late father. (Cameron’s dad, Philip, died in 2011 when the actress was 15 years old.)
“The top, it’s a video of my dad from a childhood video on my fourth birthday, where he’s wanting me to sing for the camera,” she explained. “I don’t think I have that much of that, actually, because … we weren’t, like, a show business family, butI thought that was really special because we we had this idea to end the record with that song and then end it with him saying, ‘One last song,’ which I think is really, kind of, magical that we found that audio.”
Cameron’s album Final Girl is out now.
