As a young musical artist, it’s always good to discover yourself. It may take several albums and many genre hops, but in the end you’ll find out who you are.
The case for Demi Lovato, is that she’s still trying to find herself. As an ex-Disney star, Lovato burst onto the scene with kid-friendly musicals and television shows.
When it came to her music, she had been her own person. Starting out with the pop-rock melodies of debut “Don’t Forget” and continuing to experiment with other types of music.
After her medical leave in 2010, Lovato returned in 2011 with comeback “Unbroken” featuring collaborations with Missy Elliot and Timbaland and including more hip hop and R&B influences.
Lovato had completely abandoned those sounds as she continued to look for herself in her 2013 self-titled release, receiving much more praise than the preceding.
Now on her fifth release, Lovato experiments once again. Now, a known factor in Lovato’s story was her struggle with body image and abuse, so she appropriately titled this album “Confident”, meaning she had finally become confident in who she is and in her music.
The album opens with the title track which starts with a big introduction including several instruments. The track continues to stay huge with Lovato attacking with her powerful vocals. Surprisingly for the chorus the music fades, shifting the attention onto Lovato where she simply sings “What’s wrong with being confident?”
Moving on from one hit to another, the second track is lead single “Cool For The Summer” which most buyers of the album should have heard by now. The song is exactly what you think it is,a fun, edgy summer hit stepping away from the safe pop formula Lovato used on previous efforts. Upon release the song drew comparisons to Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” due to its bi-curious message.
“Old Ways” is another song where Lovato continues to experiment musically. “Ways” is definitely a pop song but after the chorus hits, a tiny musical break featuring dub-step and hip hop sounds shows Lovato still trying to figure out her music. Lyrically, the song is perfect. In it she mentions her past of drugs and alcohol and adds “I’m not going back to my old ways.”
Throughout “Confident” , Lovato showcases her vocal capability which is definitely a strong point. Her vocal strength is probably most evident in “For You” and fan favorite “Stone Cold.”
The strongest point on the album is the standout closing track, Father, in which Lovato sings of the late Patrick Lovato. It was no secret that her relationship with her father wasn’t a great one. He had never been around for her as a child and was extremely abusive to her mother.
Now this isn’t the first time Lovato has written about her father. She had previously recorded the equally emotional “For The Love Of A Daughter”, which appeared on “Unbroken” and “Shouldn’t Come Back” on “Demi.”
The sound of “Father” is more gospel than the others and Lovato adds more soul to her voice and in the climax of the song she sings her heart out. At the end there isn’t a dry eye in the house.
As for the weaker tracks, Lovato welcomes two guest rappers. On “Kingdom Come”, another comparison to Katy Perry as well as the song “Black Widow” actually features Iggy Azalea. The song itself isn’t bad, Azalea’s verse isn’t even half bad, but the similarities are there and that’s what weakens the track. It’s lack of originality.
“Waitin For You” might be the at the bottom of the album. The idea behind it is admirable with Lovato standing up to her critics and going back to middle school years, holding her own against bullies. The song itself has a trap/hip hop vibe that doesn’t fit Lovato so well. Rapper Sirah is also featured and her verse ultimately helps save the song.
Other notable tracks include the Ryan Tedder produced “Wildfire” and the soaring ballad “Lionheart.” Each with their own vibe but not straying too far from what Lovato is already familiar with.
The album may not be the ground-breaking confidence building machine that Lovato intended for it to be, but “Confident” does shine. Lovato is getting closer and closer to finding herself and finding her sound.
“Confident” is out now on iTunes and is available to stream on Spotify and Youtube.
