Demi Lovato urges critics to 'relax' over video hairstyle

Pop star Demi Lovato has dismissed allegations of cultural appropriation after appearing to sport dreadlocks in her new music video.

The Heart Attack hitmaker released the promo for No Promises, her collaboration with DJ trio Cheat Codes, last week (ends19May17), when the singer debuted a new hairstyle.

However, some critics were not impressed with what seemed to be her take on dreads, and made their feelings known on social media.

"Why does Demi have dreads," questioned one Twitter user, while another added, "Ok but real talk did I see pics of Demi Lovato with dreadlocks earlier or was her hair just so messy it looked that way?".

The tweets didn't go unnoticed by the star and on Monday (22May17), Demi cleared up the controversy by insisting she didn't have her hair in matted braids.

"They were twists not dreads," she responded, before urging her detractors to back off and "#relax".

She then teased plans for her first single from her forthcoming album, telling her followers, "Ironically it's for my haters."