'Tell Me You Love Me'

I've been following Demi Lovato since her appearance in Camp Rock in June of 2008. I was a fan from the start, and I've owned every single album, all the way back to Don't Forget. So you can imagine my anticipation when it was announced Demi was releasing her sixth studio album, Tell Me You Love Me, on September 29th, 2017. I haven't been able to purchase it yet (thanks bills!), but I've been listening the tracks on YouTube, and I can tell you without a doubt:

THIS IS HER BEST ALBUM TO DATE.

Like I said, I've been following her career for years, so I've seen her grow as a musician over the years as well. If you had asked me back in 2008 if the Demi who released Don't Forget would ever release an album like this, I would've said hellllll no. Granted, a lot of her music was probably influenced by the pressure of being a squeaky-clean Disney Channel starlet. But her debut album really set the stage for her as an artist, and I could tell with certain songs that she was edgier than she was showing. Here We Go Again brought a *slightly* edgier Demi to the scene—I remember opening it and seeing her in the skin-tight black dress and heavy black eyeliner, thinking: Oh, that's different! And not in a bad way, either! I love edgy Demi—you can tell she's more comfortable this way, and I honestly love 11/12 of these songs—it just didn't quite sound "Demi" enough, you know? In 2011, when she released Unbroken after her stint in a treatment facility, my feelings about that album are best summed up the way Demi put it in her interview in May of 2013 with Billboard:

"I got sick of the songs. When I would play them onstage, I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't play these anymore.' And I have to wonder, was that album really who I was? Was I just experimenting with sounds? I think I wanted to try something more R&B, but when I tried that, it wasn't really me."

I couldn't agree more with that. The duets with Dev, Iyaz, and Jason Derulo, and the first song with Missy Elliot and Timbaland, didn't sit well with me. When you eliminate those four songs, I only care for seven out of the remaining 11, which is probably why it's my least favorite out of all her albums. But, I give her mad props with "Skyscraper." That was the first time I felt like I heard the true, authentic Demi, was in that song.

Her release of Demi in 2013 blew me away! That album truly showcased her sound, which is why, even though I only like a little over half of the songs, it was my favorite of her albums until this recent one. The way she just didn't care, the way she expressed herself in each of her songs, was a sign to me that she was getting ready to come out of her shell.

Confident had some of my favorite songs of hers, like "Confident" and "Cool for the Summer," (I know, typical) but the bad-ass, I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude was still lingering there in those tracks. If I had to list Demi's albums in order of my favorites, it would look like this:

1. Demi
2. Confident
3. Here We Go Againsong reviews
4. Don't Forget
5. Unbroken

But now, I've obviously shoved everyone down one space, and put Tell Me You Love Me on top. I can not stop listening to this album! I literally love every. single. track. They each sound like such Demi songs, you know? From "Sorry Not Sorry" to "Games," it's an album that sounds like it came straight from Demi's soul, mind, and body, and I am in LOVE. If you're a fan, obsessed (like me) or moderate, either way, this is the Demi album you'll want to own above all the others.