Demi Lovato has never been one to hold back, keeping it raw in her songs that can make you feel like you’re a fly on the wall of her therapy sessions.
Her new album, “Holy Fvck” — which dropped on Friday, the day before the former Disney Channel star turns 30 — unapologetically addresses the issues she has dealt with regarding her addiction, sexuality and mental health struggles.
Lovato comes out firing on the first track, “Freak,” a thrashing rave-up with punk-rocker Yungblud on which she embraces the power of being an outcast: “Get your tickets to the freak show, baby/Step right up to watch the freak go crazy.”
Then on another rocking cut, “Skin of My Teeth,” Lovato — who has been open about her struggles with addiction — admits that “I’m alive by the skin of my teeth.”
And the pop star is very much aware of the fishbowl she lives in as she deals with her own recovery journey: “Demi leaves rehab again/When is this s–t gonna end?/Sounds like the voice in my head/I can’t believe I’m not dead.”
Meanwhile, the guitar-charged takedown “Eat Me” — featuring Royal & the Serpent — gives the middle finger to all the haters who have shaded her for how she identifies: The singer came out as nonbinary and was using they/them pronouns, but she has recently adopted using she/her again.
“Would you like me better if I was still her?/Did she make your mouths water? … I know the s–t that I’ve ignored/I know the girl that you adored/She’s dead, it’s time to f–king mourn.”
And on the confessional power ballad “Happy Ending,” Lovato shares her struggle with depression — and how she has tried to cope with it: “I got high/You name it, I’ve tried it/Sure, I’m sober now/And everybody’s proud/But I miss my vices.”