ENTERTAINMENT

REVIEW:

Lovato release uncovers heartbreaking truths

deep into reality

Johanna Kaplan

johannakaplan@slpecho.com

Superstar singer Demi Lovato released her album “Dancing With e Devil … e Art of Starting Over” with an accompanying docuseries April 2. In four parts, Lovato gives fans an inside look at her struggles with addiction, fame and family. e series is centered around Lovato’s near-fatal drug overdose in 2018. Lovato, as well as her friends and family, gives insight into what it was like at the time and what led up to it. e series is emotional and challenges viewers to sympathize with Lovato’s experience. I can’t speak for everyone, but I de nitely felt for her.

Addiction doesn’t just appear out of the blue; it is accompanied by years of unreconciled trauma. Lovato makes this clear by sharing the stories of her traumatic past as a child actor.

Constantly being in the limelight, Lovato had impossible expectations placed on her at a young age. Her fans looked up to her and disappointing them was never a feasible option.

At just 7 years old, Lovato began her acting career in Barney and Friends. As time progressed, she rose to become a beloved Disney Channel star. Her most notable performances were in “Camp Rock” and “Sonny with a Chance.” She accumulated a large fan base and began to feel the pressure of it all.

Lovato had to be the perfect role model so her fans could continue to see her as their hero. In the end, working so hard to be this un awed, unbroken version of herself only isolated her further. Drugs became her only solace.

Lovato’s rst encounter with cocaine was in 2009. A group of friends introduced her to it and for 17-year-old Demi, it was love at rst sight.

Her own father fell down the same rabbithole some years ago. He also used drugs as a means of escape, abandoning Demi and her sister as children. Much like her father, she was in too deep, falling down the broken and battered path of substance abuse.

Spiraling into a world of self-medicated chaos, Lovato’s addiction consumed her. A er years of sobriety, she eventually overdosed in July 2018. e docuseries described just how close she came to death, detailing the night’s horrors. Lovato took opioids laced with fentanyl, unbeknownst to her, a er her drug dealer gave her a visit. He took advantage of her in a vulnerable moment, and le her helpless. e fentanyl forced her body into complete turmoil. She su ered several strokes, a heart attack as well as other side e ects. Her assistant found her the following morning. She immediately called for help. If Lovato was found just 10 minutes later, she would not have survived.

While the docuseries wasn’t perfect, Lovato’s courage to speak up is something that overrides any technical errors.

Fair use from SB Films

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Ben Sanford

bensanford@slpecho.com Fair use from Minneapolis Institute of Art,

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