Demi Lovato released the first song from her upcoming new album, Dancing With the Devil…the Art of Starting Over.
In her haunting new song, “Dancing With the Devil” — the song is the title track for her recent YouTube Originals docuseries — Lovato chronicles her relapse, which would lead to her near-fatal overdose in 2018.
In the four-part Dancing With the Devil series, which premiered Tuesday — it also served as South by Southwest’s opening night headliner during its first-ever virtual fest — the singer broke her silence on the events that led to her near-fatal 2018 overdose that led Lovato to suffer a heart attack and three strokes and embark on a fight for her life.
Growing miserable while under strict restrictions and pressures from her former team, Lovato recalls thinking, “I don’t even know why I’m sober anymore.” In the docuseries, Lovato admits that she eventually drank a bottle of red wine then contacted someone who had drugs on them. “I just went to town. I went on a shopping spree,” she says in a sit-down interview.
In her new single, Lovato starts by singing about the moment she relapsed: “It’s just a little red wine, I’ll be fine…I’ve been good, don’t I deserve it?”
Following her overdose, Lovato revealed that she was told by doctors she had five to ten more minutes left to live, which she also reflects on in the lyrics, “I was dancing with the devil, out of control/Almost made it to heaven, it was closer than you know.”
In the docuseries, Lovato speaks further about her eventual heroin addiction: “I started using recreationally, and obviously, you can’t do that with heroin before you become addicted to it.” She seemingly addresses her heroin addiction in the song as she sings, “Tinfoil remedy/Almost got the best of me.”
Lovato’s new album, Dancing With the Devil…the Art of Starting Over, will be released April 2 and will feature 19 songs and three bonus tracks. Ariana Grande, Noah Cyrus, Saweetie and Sam Fisher will join the singer for collaborations.
The first two episodes of Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil are available to stream now, with a new episode airing every Tuesday in which Lovato will detail her path to recovery.