Demi Lovato gave some of her biggest singles a rock and alternative twist in her newest album titled “Revamped.” Throughout Lovato’s career the rockstar quality in her music dimmed, and most of her hits from the 2010s were missing the influences of pop punk and rock seen in her more recent work. Fans were itching to hear her older songs done in the same style as her last album, especially the more electronic songs.
Days before the album was released, Demi Lovato performed a fiery medley of “Heart Attack,” “Sorry Not Sorry,” and “Cool for the Summer” at the MTV Music Video Awards. Their performance was energetic, set a high bar for the rest of the award show, and got fans geared up to hear the rest of the upgraded songs.
“Heart Attack” is the perfect album opener. The song already had a prominent drum beat and a heavy chorus. The original also had a small amount of guitar in the chorus. The new version allows fans to easily adapt to the transition from pop to rock on “Revamped” and prepares listeners for the following songs. “Confident,” “Sorry Not Sorry,” and “Cool for the Summer” served as singles for this album, so I chose to focus on the rest of the songs on the album for this review.
“Tell Me You Love Me” sounds the same, except with the added distortion in the chorus and more depth in the backing vocals. The collective vocals sound less like a choir and more like an enthusiastic crowd. “Don’t Forget” and “La La Land” took the usual path of updating the vocal runs and adding more complex instrumentation in the song.
The original version of “Neon Lights” was an EDM-style pop song. There are still electronic elements in the track, however, the chorus and post-chorus are packed with hard-hitting drums and distorted guitars. The hint of the iconic “Neon Lights” riff can still be heard, and the synthetic dubstep beats are replaced by real drums. A voice effect was used on Demi’s voice to help bring the electronic elements back into the song.
“Neon Lights” was a collaboration with The Maine. The Maine have been riding the line of punk, pop, and alternative for years, so the choice of collaborating with them on a song was perfect.
“Skyscraper” is now a sultry rock ballad. It was and still is an emotionally-fronted song and it is cathartic to hear her mature voice singing the words in 2023. In the original song, straining can be heard in Lovato’s voice as she was trying to catch up to the high notes. In the new version, her strength is heard from the extra power she gives to each note, and like the rest of the songs, she added extra vibrato and unexpected runs.
What I was most excited about, was to hear the song “Give Your Heart a Break,”which features Bert McCracken from The Used. I was excited to hear his singing voice alongside Demi’s. Sadly, his voice is overshadowed. The mixing could have been better so you could hear him more easily through the distortion and Demi’s voice, but I was content. As a longtime emo and fan of The Used, this and “Skyscraper” was just the thing I needed to heal after a long and tough week.
Demi Lovato gave each song her all. The instrumentation of each song was updated with incredible detail, and everything was taken into account. Lovatics will be filled with nostalgia after hearing the updated tunes, and new Demi Lovato fans will be intrigued to see what else the talented singer has up their sleeve.
