Review Roundup: Demi Lovato

Time for another review roundup! We haven’t talked about it much on this blog, but Becky and I have pretty much done a complete 180 on Demi since the travesty that was Camp Rock. I believe Becky is penning a post on this very subject, so I won’t go into the whys, but suffice to say that she is our girl now. Which is not the only reason I can’t seem to take Unbroken off of repeat on my iPod, but it’s one of them.

Anyway, rather than cover our emotional journey with Demi, let’s talk about the musical one instead:

Don’t Forget (2008)

One of the things I’ve never liked about the Jonas Brothers is the way they shove every note they sing through their throats like they’re trying to pass kidney stones. When Demi debuted she had a similar problem, made worse by the fact that the Jonas Brothers are misusing average dude voices and Demi was misusing a golden trumpet from the heavens. Her voice is so powerful that when she screams the high notes just because she can, I actually lean away from the speakers.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of leaning on this album. I blame the Jonii, who wrote six of the 11 songs. It’s only on a couple of tracks that Demi pulls back and just sings: “Until You’re Mine,” where she belts instead of screaming; “Believe in Me,” a more straight-pop song than the rest of the rock-infused album, and the lilting, music box-esque title track, where she allows some sweetness to shine through as she floats through the high notes. Mostly, though, the album is just loud.

Here We Go Again (2009)

I was pleasantly surprised by the first (and title) track of Here We Go Again, where Demi doesn’t shout at all. That’s not to say there’s no shouting on the album, but it’s been toned down a lot. Musically, though, this is an album in search of a genre. While “Quiet” and “Remember December” sound like they were intended for Don’t Forget, the fantastic “Every Time You Lie” is a hint of things to come on Unbroken, with its strong R&B flavor. “U Got Nothin’ on Me” shamelessly steals its guitar licks from the Beatles, “Falling Over Me” and “Catch Me” are both super cute, slightly generic pop songs, “Gift of a Friend” is straight-up Disney cheese, and the John Mayer-penned “World of Chances” sounds, unsurprisingly, like a John Mayer song. Some of the songs are better than others, but the overall effect is that of an album that lacks a point of view. While Here We Go Again takes away the oppressive volume of Don’t Forget, it hasn’t really replaced it with anything yet, leaving an album that’s inoffensive, but also forgettable.

Unbroken (2011)

Okay, folks, here’s where it really gets good.  I don’t know if it was the time in rehab – though some of Unbroken was written and recorded before rehab – or the fact that she’s got more time now to focus on her music, but this album blows Demi’s past efforts completely out of the water.  Like Here We Go Again, it’s multi-faceted, shifting from R&B-infused dance beats to shimmering waltzes to the musical equivalent of primal screams, but this time around there’s more of a guiding theme to tie it all together.  Unlike the dance hall sound of most of her tweendom compatriots, Demi’s gone in a more R&B direction – she cites Rihanna and Keri Hilson as influences, but I hear Mary J. Blige, TLC, Kelly Clarkson, some early Christina Aguilera, one-hit wonder Blu Cantrell, and Madonna in there too, not to mention a leeetle bit of Billy Joel.
 
The switch to R&B allows Demi to show off her voice, and holy heck, you guys, what a voice.  According to Wikipedia, she spans nearly three octaves on this album, and I believe it – just try to hit the high notes she belts in “You’re My Only Shorty.”  The two waltzes on the album (and have we discussed how much I love pop waltzes? I LOVE POP WALTZES), quite aside from being beautiful songs, are fantastic showcases for her range, both vocally and performatively: “Lightweight” layers each instrument in, including Demi’s voice(s), one by one, building to something that’s exuberantly joyful and fearful at once, while “Fix a Heart,” describing the end of a relationship, is angrier and more melancholy.  She moves easily from big, brassy songs like “All Night Long” and “In Real Life” to the featherweight falsettos of “My Love Is Like a Star.”  And yes, there is the infamous Lovato Shout – but this time it’s controlled, applied only to the two rawest songs on the album, “Skyscraper” and “For the Love of a Daughter.”  Rather than sounding like she’s shouting the notes because she can, the shouts – broken notes and all – help to convey the total emotional breakdown the songs call for – defiant on the former, despairing on the latter.
 
Finally, she’s simply working with better material.  I mean, did you ever expect Missy Elliott and Timbaland to produce and perform on an album by a Disney kid?  Demi only wrote about a third of the album (and – forgive me, Demi! – for the most part the weaker third), but she’s chosen a good stable of collaborators, shifting across genres and tones from the slinky, predatory “Who’s That Boy” to the sprightly bubblegum of “Give Your Heart a Break.”  Even when the song is cheesy (“Together”) or endearingly silly (“Hold Up”), she sings the hell out of it.
 
Let’s be honest: usually when I review an album here, I say it’s good for a tweendom star.  Unbroken isn’t just good for a tweendom star, it’s great for anyone, full stop.  Buy this album today.

(And yes, I know these are supposed to be mini reviews. Hush your face.)

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