Demi Lovato - Dancing With The Devil….The Art Of Starting Over (Review):
Demi Lovato released their much anticipated seventh studio album recently after having quite the moment away from it all. They’ve had quite the challenging couple of years, after they suffered a tragic overdose. I remember when it all came out, I was shocked and hoping for them to survive it. Thankfully they recovered from it and are now in a good place. They had been teasing the release of the album since last year through releasing a string of singles. However due to the pandemic and the inability to promote their new releases, they delayed the album release. Lack of promo also meant that the singles didn’t exactly perform as they and their team had hoped for. Anyways after a long wait they announced that they were putting out a four part documentary that would speak on all that they had gone through and it partially shared the album title. The documentary in a way acts as an accompaniment to the album.
The album is broken into two sections. The first titled Dancing With The Devil acts as an interlude to the album and includes the more emotive side of the record. Three tracks with the first ‘Anyone’ being an emotive piano driven ballad that is a cry for help. The second ‘Dancing With The Devil’ a powerful track that plays out their entire journey and the third ‘ICU (Madison’s Lullabye)' a heartfelt dedication to their sister Madison. They then bridge it to the second part with a short spoken intro.
The second part is titled The Art Of Starting Over. In this part they focuses on their growth and where they are at in life now. They talk about personal growth, their relationships and how they got over the demise of their recent relationship in which the two got engaged and then ended things. Tracks like ‘The Art Of Starting Over’ & ‘The Kind Of Lover I Am’ both seem to be influenced by Fleetwood Mac exhibiting similar feels to that of their tracks, both through the production and vocal styling. The former is about their new beginnings and plays to them surviving the overdose acting as a rebirth to start over, the latter is them letting everyone know of the type of lover they are. ‘The Kind Of Lover I Am’ has a spoken outro that is auto-tuned where they are being rather goofy. They throw it back to their pop/rock days on the carefree track ‘Lonely People’, about us all being lonely not in the sense of not having anyone else in our life, but that at one point or the other we end up finding ourselves alone. The song then ends with these beautiful soaring vocals.
Then we have the more mellow moments with ‘The Way You Don’t Look At Me’ & ‘Carefully’. The former a vulnerable and intimate track about the other person not reciprocating their feelings. The latter is a more dreamy and chilled moment, where they sing about wanting to be treated carefully by their lover. You get lost in the heartfelt beauty of the former, and the vastness of the latter. ’Melon Cake’ follows, a track about their team getting them a melon cake instead of a real one due to their struggling with an eating disorder. When they changed their team, they got them a real cake putting an end to the melon cake tradition that they were tired of. The chorus has this groovy electric vibe to it.
The album features four collaborations. The dark pop collaboration 'Met Him Last Night' with Ariana Grande in which they sing about unexpectedly falling for the devil, however they won’t ever let it happen again. The two blend together really well vocally and the bridge is a back and forth between the two in which they execute their vocals in a similar manner. The tracks placement on the album is interesting as sound wise it doesn’t cohesively fit on the record, however lyrically it meshes with the rest of the record. The track was written by Ariana and was intended for her album ‘Positions’, however she offered it to Demi who asked her to remain on the track with them. The next collaboration is on a track titled ‘What Other People Say’ which was released prior to the album. The track was a single released by the featured artist Sam Finscher. Demi however decided to place it on the album, since it fits in with their journey. The two vocally come together nicely on this soulful track about trying not to be concerned with what others have to say and living life in their own accord.
The next collaboration is the most unexpected and surprising one on the album. This cinematic moment is also the best collaboration on the album. It is ‘Easy’ Ft. Noah Cyrus. The track is a stunning and heartbreaking ballad about coming out of a relationship and even though it hurts, you try making it seem like it hasn’t impacted you at all. Both come together on the track vocally in such a beautiful way that you are left with goosebumps. A standout track on the album that should be released as a single. I feel it could end up being quite the dark horse and draw them some Grammy buzz. The last collaboration is with Saweetie titled ‘My Girlfriends Are My Boyfriend’ a fun lighthearted head bopping moment.
’15 Minutes’ provides the album with a more charged moment, where they vocally deliver the chorus with some grit. They are letting the person of topic know that their time is up. Their done and have no more energy for them. The production on the track remains at the back, allowing their vocal to be the driving force for the emotion they want to put forward. Then we get to ‘California Sober’ a track that takes you on a journey, you feel as though you are driving through LA on a sunny day with the wind passing through your hair. A mid-tempo dreamy track about moderation rather than complete sobriety. Demi featuring a cover of ‘Mad World’ on the album was quite the surprise. A beautiful rendition that manages to fit in with the rest of the record in terms of its topic.
So the second to last track on the album is ‘Butterfly’ which is about their father. It’s led by an electric guitar, then you get a switch up for the pre-chorus. The build to the chorus leads you to have a certain expectation of what it will be like, however when it hits it is something quite different. Another dreamy moment with an ethereal feel to it. The album closes on a track titled ‘Good Place’ a beautiful track with minimalistic production to really allow you to pay attention to the vocal and lyrics. They sing about finally being in a good place. They bring it in on the last chorus where they take it up vocally and then deliver the final line on the verge of tears. This provides the album with the perfect ending.
Overall the album is a strong effort from Demi Lovato. It perfectly depicts their journey and where they are at currently. They keep challenging themselves as an artist, by changing things up and not trying to recreate the sounds of their previous work. Demi still seems to be underrated to an extent, especially when comparing to their peers. They deserve a lot more appreciation for the artist that they are and the talent they possess as a vocalist. On this album they showcase their range and their ability to both belt and deliver with restraint.
