In lieu of her break and in honor of her empowered attitude, we’re looking back at Demi Lovato’s interpretation of female strength and effort to be nobody else but herself as portrayed in some of her…
After a week that included backlash from a recent Glamour interview — in which she slammed false feminism and pointed to Taylor Swift‘s squad as the culprit — Demi Lovato tweeted that she would be “taking a break from media and the spotlight” and added she was “not meant for this business.” The statement came in conjunction with body-shaming that followed after she directly responded to a fan-drawn illustration of herself as a topless mermaid. “Is that how my boobs should look? It’s gorgeous, but that’s not my body,” the former Disney Channel actress turned platinum-selling artist said.
In lieu of her break and in honor of her empowered attitude, we’re looking back at Lovato’s interpretation of female strength, and effort to be nobody else but herself as portrayed in some of her best music videos.
“Confident”
Portrayed as the ultimate girl-power superhero, Lovato smashes through windows and body-clocks her archnemesis in Bond-esque combat scenes in this 2015 video. Lovato’s ease in playing this superhuman character came as a surprise to Sin City director Robert Rodriguez who noted that: “You could see her confidence grow with every shot. I would pull her over to the monitor and show her. I’d point out a now iconic moment and say, ‘Who is THAT?!’ She was transforming before our eyes.” Emphasizing her fierceness? Smoky eye makeup and a tough moto jacket.
“Cool for the Summer”
A blend of sass and fun, Demi’s cool confidence is only emphasized by a series of killer clothing selections. From the Asher Levine bodysuit, Lust for Life lace-up sandals, CHROMAT bikini top and an aquamarine Agent Provacateur swimsuit toward the end, the singer isn’t afraid to turn up the volume with each passing look.
“Body Say”
In a video that takes a powerful less-is-more approach, Lovato encapsulates the song’s message of taking control of one’s body by going completely bare in this black-and-white video. An ode to confidence, the video tosses Photoshop, retouching and body-editing out the window.
“Stone Cold”
The video depicts contrasting scenes of Demi sitting in a bathtub donning a grey V-neck sweater and out on a mountaintop in a cool fur-lined coat complemented with a headscarf. The external scenarios visualize the struggles that surround her, and the clothes she wears seem to symbolize her self-protection. Soon after the video was released, Lovato noted in an Instagram post that she wore a sweater in the bathtub because she didn’t “want it to be anything close to glamorous or anywhere near ‘sexy.’ I wanted it to be like nothing that I’ve ever put in the creative to a video I’ve shot,” she wrote.