Demi Lovato is back with a new song and video—and she’s getting even more personal than she did on “Anyone,” which she released earlier this year (it was her first song since her 2018 overdose).
That might not seem apparent at first. This new song, “I Love Me,” is up-tempo and incredibly pop. But underneath the shiny production and colorful video are some brutally honest personal references.
Let’s start with the lyrics to the song, where Lovato addresses her eating disorder, self-esteem issues, and her tendency to self-sabotage. “I’m guilty ’bout everything that I eat (Every single day),” Lovato sings. “Feelin’ myself is a felony.”
“Why do I compare myself to everyone?” she then says in the chorus. “And I always got my finger on the self-destruct.”
These lyrics come to life in Lovato’s video for “I Love Me,” where, at one point, she battles herself. (That’s no doubt a reference to when she sings, “Voices in my head make up my entourage.”)
But the most potent personal references come at the end of the video. We see Lovato walk past and put her hand on a woman being wheeled by paramedics on a stretcher. This is, perhaps, a literal nod to the singer’s own overdose from 2018, though she hasn’t confirmed that explicitly.
Also, we briefly see a bride and groom run past Lovato, which could be a nod to her ex, Wilmer Valderrama, who visited Lovato in the hospital back in 2018 and is now engaged to Amanda Pacheco. Per TMZ, it’s possible Lovato put this here to illustrate that she’s at peace with Valderrama’s new relationship now that she’s found self-love. Of course, this is just a theory.
Watch the video for yourself, below:
Demi Lovato appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, March 5, and opened up about her eating disorder, relapse, and self-love journey. “I think it’s important that I sit here on this stage and tell you at home or you in the audience or you right here that if you do go through this, you yourself can get through it,” she said. “You can get to the other side, and it may be bumpy, but you are a 10 out of 10. Don’t forget it. As long as you take the responsibility, you can move past it and learn to love yourself the way you deserve to be loved.”
