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Thinking back to her days as a teenage celebrity through the lens of an adult, Lovato has compassion. “Looking back, I don’t blame my 17-year-old self for being so miserable,” she said. “When I’m angry, it means I’m really in pain,” she added. “Young women in the industry who are labeled as ‘hard to work’ – it’s like, hey, maybe just a second, consider that it’s not that I’m a bad person. It’s just that no one is listening to me and I’m hungry, tired and overworked and doing my best for a 17 year old without medication.
However, exposing one’s imperfections to the world did little to alleviate internal pressures. Behind the scenes, Lovato has established himself as the idealized version of a successful pop star throughout his career. His first two albums of 2008 and 2009 were filled with courageous pop-punk like Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne. His third album, “Unbroken”, which featured the hit ballad “Skyscraper” and the irresistible “Give Your Heart a Break”, was a creative leap, adding more R&B influences and serious topics.
She said she avoids reviewing her next two albums, “Demi” (2013) and “Confident” (2015). “I don’t know if it’s because it reminds me of the people who were in my life at that time or if it just doesn’t feel as authentic to me,” she said. “I really believed in myself after releasing ‘Skyscraper’ for the Grammys. I was like, I might have a chance now! And then I released another album – nothing.
Discouraged by the reaction, she recalibrated. “So I dove in, okay what’s the formula for a pop star who’s at the top of the charts?” She counted the criteria on her right hand: “She shows her skin, she’s a lot fitter, and you know, she wears leotards on stage. So I played that role for a minute. And that did not satisfy me at all.
Excited, she continued, “It’s weird to think I had more sense of identity at 15, 16 than at 23.”
A song from that dark period in 2015 recalled Lovato’s earlier work, with its disco-punk chorus enlivened by grindy guitars. “Cool for the Summer” spoke the most truth, about relationships with girls. Lovato heard his beat at producer Max Martin’s studio and was immediately enthralled: “I was like, you have to write about it. It is so [expletive] difficult.”
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