In this next instalment of Disney starlet Demi Lovato’s music career, she has made it clear she’s done making pop music. Despite her fifth studio album ‘Confident’ containing just a few of her most successful tracks to date, in July 2017 she released ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ – an R&B banger that set us up for the release of her sixth studio album ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ in September the same year. No one can deny, ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ was the definition of sass and female power – not unlike Dua Lipa’s ‘New Rules’ – showing that women are not ones to be messed with anymore. The album, ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ opened at number three on the US Billboard 2000 with first-week sales reaching 48,000 copies – and it’s not hard to see why…
2015’s release ‘Confident’, although containing a few of Lovato’s biggest selling songs to date, seemed a little undecided. The songs contained her usual message of body confidence – something I highly applaud her for including in her work – but didn’t show a style that was unique to her. Finally, it seems that has changed.
When the full album came out in late September, it did not disappoint. The sultry, sexy style that Lovato has adopted for these tracks shows us just how far behind she has left her Disney roots. Revealing more about herself than ever before, the tracks on this album are a perfect mix of soulful sexiness – such as ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ and ‘You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore’ – and sassy female power ballads. The title track shows Lovato’s soft side proving to us that this ‘strong independent woman’ still has a hear, a plea for affection, while the rest shows her moving on with her life and taking nothing from nobody.
Lust is a reoccurring theme on ‘Tell Me You Love Me’, a fresh view on how we see love and intimacy. I’ve previously heard many songs of love and songs about love, to me, are getting slightly old. Demi Lovato has found a way to overcome this and has provided us with a very fresh and modern view on love and lust – a side that is only recently becoming less of a taboo.
3/5 Stars.
