“Cool for the Summer” is the lead single from Lovato’s fifth studio album, Confident, released in fall 2015 through a partnership between previous label Hollywood Records, Island Records, and its new subsidiary Safehouse Records, co-founded by Lovato. It peaked at #11 in the US in September 2015, and was also a top 40 hit in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand and the UK.

In 2023, Demi told Howard Stern the song was written about her sexual relationship with another female celebrity.