Demi Lovato’s sixth studio album is another instance of the singer experimenting with styles. As a Lovatic, or a Demi Lovato super-fan, I think it’s imperative to know that Lovato has experimenting with different styles of music since she started on Disney Channel, going from pop princess to edgy pop-punk idol in a matter of three albums. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Lovato has decided to experiment with R&B for her sixth studio album, “Tell Me You Love Me.” The pop music star’s album, as the title suggests, deals exclusively with love songs (with the one exception being her huge summer hit, “Sorry Not Sorry”). There are songs about bad relationships that deal with issues that range from wanting to get out of the friend zone (“Ruin the Friendship”) to about sex in the bedroom (“Concentrate”).
Compared to other albums that have dropped this year, as well as the strength of the rest of Lovato’s catalog, this album was good — but not great. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t pieces of the album that I loved, it just means that this album as a whole isn’t one of my favorite Demi Lovato albums. “Sorry Not Sorry” starts off the album with huge expectations, as the song features cool elements such as the use of claps during the pre-chorus with the vibe of an empowered hero staring down foes and biting lyrics like “Payback is a bad bitch / and baby, I’m the baddest.” Other songs that amped up the album’s hype were “Ruin the Friendship” and “Sexy Dirty Love,” with the former infused with an intriguing jazz vibe and the latter featuring a cool funky feel that I could see being played in a late night club. “Sexy Dirty Love” also stands out for its cool use of bass, fun lyrics and the punchy voice of Lovato throughout the chorus. “You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore” was another favorite. Unfortunately, I don’t think this song will ever hold as much power as it’s supposed to as I can’t seem to stop comparing it to “Stone Cold,” one of the standouts from Demi’s last album “Confident,” due to its sparse instrumentation and sole reliance on Lovato’s powerful vocals.
However, while this album featured great tracks that I can’t get out of my head, I can’t help but come back to the disruptive sequencing of the album. “Ruin the Friendship,” “Only Forever” and “Lonely” are all amazing songs for on their own, but when these songs put next to one another in the middle of the album, it creates a slow pace of movement, very dissimilar to the beginning of the album. As a result, I felt like I was waiting for the songs to be over so that I could get back to the cool grove of “Sorry Not Sorry” and “Sexy Dirty Love.” Similarly, placing “Concentrate” and “Hitchhiker” next to each other felt like a poor choice as these songs sound almost exactly the same due to the similar riff of the guitar in the background — listening to them felt like I was listening to a seven-minute song. Not giving these songs room to breathe and hang on their own makes it impossible for me to enjoy the qualities of each song on its own.
Lovato is also known for opening up about her personal life in her songs (see: her third album, “Unbroken,” which was shortly written after the singer had left rehab and featured songs like “Lightweight” and “Skyscraper”), and “Tell Me You Love Me” is no exception. Recently, the singer premiered a documentary on YouTube about her mental health issues growing up, and it’s no surprise that a few of the songs she wrote on the album were personal stories about the relationships she’s been through. This shines through in a particular song called “Daddy Issues.” In an interview with Teen Vogue, Lovato mentions that the song is about “how one can anticipate disappointment and then feel comfortable with it” in a relationship. The song is especially personal for Lovato to write because of her absent father figure growing up — Lovato is also known for mentioning her father, who recently passed away, in her songs. In her last album, “Confident,” she sings about his passing away in “Father,” and in “Unbroken,” she sings about how her rocky relationship with him in “For the Love of a Daughter.” Lovato continues to open up to fans about her personal life in hopes that they know that they aren’t alone in the problems that they face in their daily lives.
While “Tell Me You Love Me” suffers from his internal flaws of its own, Lovato’s newest album is a fascinating addition to her discography. I hope she delves more into the realm of R&B — it will be interesting to see what she continues to do in this genre.
Notable tracks: “Ruin the Friendship,” “Sexy Dirty Love”
“Tell Me You Love Me” is now available on Spotify and iTunes.
Contact Jourdann Fraser at jourdann ‘at’ stanford.edu.