Looking back on her days of teenage stars through the lens of an adult, Lovato has compassion. “In hindsight, I do not blame my 17-year-old for being so miserable,” she said. “When I’m angry, it means I’m really hurt,” she added. ‘Young women in the industry who’ are hard to work with ‘are branded – it’s like, maybe, just for a moment, thinking it’s not that I’m a bad person. No one just listens to me and I’m hungry, and I’m tired and overworked and doing the best I can for a 17 year old.
However, exposing her imperfections to the world did little to alleviate internal pressures. Behind the scenes, Lovato pushed her to be the idealized version of a successful pop star as her career progressed. Her first two albums of 2008 and 2009 were filled with spunk pop-punk in the mode Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne. Her third LP, “Unbroken”, which included the hit ballad “Skyscraper” and the irresistible “Give Your Heart a Break”, was a creative leap that added more R&B influences and serious topics.
She said she avoids revisiting her subsequent two albums, “Demi” (2013) and “Trust” (2015). “I do not know if it reminds me of the people who were in my life at the time, or that it just does not feel so real to myself,” she said. ‘I really believed in myself after putting out’ Skyscraper ‘for the Grammys. I was like, I might have a chance now! And then I put out another album – nothing. ‘
Discouraged from the reaction, she recalibrates. “So, what’s the formula for a pop star at the top of the list?” She counts down the criteria on her right hand: ‘She shows her skin, she’s much fitter, and you know, she’s wearing leotards on stage. So I played that role for a minute. And it did not fulfill me at all. ”
Fired, she continued, “It’s strange to think I had more than a 15, 16 – year – old sense of identity than a 23 – year – old.”
One song from that dark period in 2015 returned to Lovato’s earlier work, with his disco-punk chorus powered by grinding guitars. “Cool for the Summer” told the truth about joining girls. Lovato heard his partner in the studio of producer Max Martin and was immediately captivated: ‘I was like we should write about it. It is so [expletive] difficult.”