Demi Lovato Gives Their Hits the Rock Treatment on Revamped
The pop star's catalog-spanning collection revels in a newfound boldness while maintaining all of the original fanfare
Demi Lovato has long been a phoenix in their art and in their life. The pop-turned-rock singer grew up on Barney & Friends in Texas before becoming a Disney Channel star and a renowned vocalist. Lovato was in a unique position in terms of their Disney stardom era. They had watched Hilary Duff work her way from Lizzie McGuire to Hollywood Records; Miley Cyrus had already experienced monumental success by the late 2000s; Selena Gomez was ahead of Lovato with the Disney sitcom step but wouldn’t release an album until 2009, after Lovato. There was a long road ahead for these three post-Duff breakout stars, especially Demi Lovato.
They have since publicly reflected on a near-fatal 2018 overdose and have created new music: 2021’s Dancing with the Devil and 2022’s Holy Fvck. The artist’s new album, Revamped, is comprised of 10 older Lovato songs now revised as rock versions. They worked with production team Warren “Oak” Felder and The Orphanage, the same group that produced Holy Fvck last year.
The album is a result of Lovato’s Holy Fvck Tour, where they performed several older songs with a rock twist in order to better fit the sound of their new music and image. Revamped retains guitarist Nita Strauss, who toured with Lovato in 2022, for “La La Land.” This song could be considered a Disney Channel deep-cut, released in 2008 and co-written by Lovato and the Jonas Brothers—and the music video even included Lovato’s Sonny with a Chance co-stars. The show was about Sonny becoming a Hollywood star, so it’s all very meta when Lovato sings about “the La La Land machine.” On the update, their vocal riffs balance against Strauss’ soloing electric guitar part, which beautifully carries Lovato from a quieter moment into a warm new variation on the chorus. Their passion shines through, especially on this line they astutely wrote over 15 years ago: “I won’t change anything in my life, I’m staying myself tonight.”
“Confident”—written by Lovato, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ilya Salmanzadeh—packed a punch in 2015 with its music video, which was shot like an action film and featured Lovato as the fierce protagonist. The 2023 rendition doesn’t lose the introductory fanfare that prepares listeners for a showdown. The statement “I used to hold my freak back, but I’m letting go” has perhaps never been truer for Lovato. Holy Fvck’s “Freak” (featuring Yungblud) last year deliciously played with Julius Fučík’s “Entry of the Gladiators” (aka the circus song) on the pre-chorus: “Get your tickets to the freak show, baby / Step right up to watch the freak go crazy.” I loved Holy Fvck and couldn’t resist making that connection when listening. “Confident” delivered on its title in 2015, and Lovato’s freshly minted belt at the end of the Revamped track will remind fans of the singer’s vocal energy and consistency, and their ability to stretch the limits as they ask, “What’s wrong with being confident?”
Lovato told Billboard that they actually found a higher range in their voice to work with for this album. “To be honest, I think we added an extra high note on every track. I think that’s actually part of the exciting thing with this album; getting to hear the higher notes that I’m doing in my songs and like taking it to another level,” the singer said. “I’d even say they were easier to record, just because I’ve been singing them for so many years.”
When asked about any challenges in translating their past music to rock, Lovato cited “Tell Me You Love Me” because of its “soulful” nature. A cover by songwriter Kirby Lauryen might change your entire understanding of the piece. This one and “Sorry Not Sorry” even got the gospel treatment in 2017 when Lovato performed them both with choir and band for Vevo. It’s hard to beat the gospel organ sound behind the chorus “Oh tell me you love me / I need someone / On days like this I do / On days like this.” By the bridge, Lovato is practically giving a sermon—one I am happy to be seated for, as I watch their fervor in the old video. However, the rock version of “Tell Me You Love Me” captures a new layer of earnestness in Lovato’s singing—backed by creative production choices that take advantage of the notes built into the chorus (the “oh” sections that follow “Can you hear my heart say?”). Lovato takes flight by going up the octave with skill and years of vocal prowess—and it’s exciting to witness. The vocoder outro is a nice touch, and the track functions well as a calmer moment between the harder, louder rock numbers on Revamped.
“In ‘Cool for the Summer,’” the lyrics I changed from ‘Don’t tell your mother’ to ‘Go tell your mother,’” Lovato told Zach Sang. With just one word altered, their sexuality and identity is not treated as a taboo secret. “… it’s proud, and I wanted that to be reflective,” they added. Lovato possesses a new confidence in the lyric change, and their voice sounds perfectly punky—even leaning into “r” consonants at the ends of words more than before. This song is one of my favorites on the album, at least instrumentally. The opening hook was introduced in 2015 as a dancey piano motif under producers Max Martin and Ali Payami (who wrote the song with Lovato, Alexander Kronlund and Savan Kotecha). It now begins with the sounds of synth and static, building into clearer audio as a bold drumbeat kicks in. An interlude between pre-chorus and chorus heats up this summer song—a metal yell, electric guitar shredding and faint but well-placed echoes of the chorus notes. The production style and Lovato’s incredible, amped-up belting transform “Cool for the Summer” into a rock song while building on the structural strengths of the pop number, like the rich guitar presence in those interlude spots.