Demetria Devonne Lovato (born August 20, 1992) aka Demi Lovato is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. After appearing on the children’s television series ’Barney & Friends’ (2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence as Mitchie Torres in the musical television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel ’Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam’ (2010); the former film’s soundtrack contained “This Is Me”, Lovato’s debut single and duet with Joe Jonas, which peaked at number nine on the ’Billboard’ Hot 100.
After signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released their pop rock debut album, ’Don’t Forget’ (2008), which debuted at number two on the ’Billboard 200’. Its follow-up, ’Here We Go Again’ (2009), debuted at number one in the US. while its title track reached number 15 on the Hot 100. Lovato’s third studio album, ’Unbroken’ (2011), experimented with pop and R&B and spawned the US platinum-certified single ‘Skyscraper’.
They released their eponymous fourth album in 2013, which debuted at number three on the ’Billboard’ 200, and contained the top-ten international hit ‘Heart Attack’. Lovato’s fifth and sixth albums, Confident (2015) and ’Tell Me You Love Me’ (2017), infused soul and mature themes; they earned a Grammy Award nomination for ’Confident’, while ‘Sorry Not Sorry’, the lead single from ’Tell Me You Love Me’, became their highest-charting single in the US, reaching number six. After a period of hiatus, Lovato released their seventh album, ’Dancing with the Devil… the Art of Starting Over’ (2021), which reached number two on the ’Billboard 200’.
On television, Lovato has starred as the titular character on the sitcom ’Sonny with a Chance’ (2009–2011), served as a judge on the music competition series ’The X Factor USA’ for its second and third seasons, and appeared as a recurring character on the musical comedy ’Glee’ (2013–2014) and the sitcom ’Will & Grace’ (2020). They also starred in the television drama film ’Princess Protection Program’ (2009), the animated comedy film ’Smurfs: The Lost Village’ (2017), and the musical comedy ’Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ (2020).
Lovato has sold over 24 million records in the United States and has also received numerous accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, 14 Teen Choice Awards, five People’s Choice Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, a Guinness World Record, and was included on the ’Time 100’ annual list in 2017. An activist for several social causes, Lovato’s struggles with an eating disorder and substance abuse have been well-documented by the media, in response to which they published a book, ’Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year’ (2013), and released the documentaries ’Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated’ (2017) and ’Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil’ (2021).
Influences
Lovato has frequently cited “power vocalists” such as Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Whitney Houston, and Aretha Franklin as major musical and vocal influences. Lovato says, “I had a lot of respect for Whitney Houston, and Christina Aguilera.” About their admiration for Clarkson, Lovato says, “I just thought she was a great role model. I feel like she set a really great example and she was extremely talented.” Lovato also said that they were “obsessed with Kelly Clarkson” as a child, and they even had an AOL username, “Little Kelly”, inspired by the singer.
Their other influences or inspirations include Britney Spears, Rihanna, JoJo, Keri Hilson, Jennifer Lopez, Gladys Knight, Alexz Johnson, Billie Holiday, the Spice Girls, and Billy Gilman. About Gilman she said, “We had the same voice range when I was young. I would practice his songs all the time.”
In her teens, Lovato listened to metal, including bands such as ’Devil Wears Prada’, ’Job for a Cowboy’, ’Maylene’, ‘Sons of Disaster’, and ’Bring Me the Horizon’. They have said that John Mayer’s songwriting has in particular been a “huge influence” on them, and that following the release of ’Unbroken’, their musical style shifted towards hip hop and R&B.
Upon the release of the song ‘Without a Fight’ by country music singer Brad Paisley featuring Lovato, they cited the country genre as a lifelong strong musical influence of theirs, as they “grew up listening to country” and their mother “was a country singer”.
Lovato’s The Neon Lights Tour was “inspired by Beyoncé” and specifically her 2013 self-titled visual album in regard to the visuals shown on screen. Moreover, Lovato revealed that their sixth studio album, ’Tell Me You Love Me’, was inspired by Aguilera. Lovato said “I grew up listening to Christina Aguilera. She was one of my idols growing up. She still is.
Her voice is incredible, and in ’Stripped’ you really got to hear that. I think it was her breakout album that really transformed her into the icon that she is today. “So that inspired me… she really inspired this album. I was even inspired by the black and white artwork!”