On “It’s Not That Deep,” Demi Lovato just wants to have fun again. After a few years of embracing punk rock on her 2022 album “Holy Fvck” and reinterpreting her old songs with a rougher edge on “Revamped” in 2023, Lovato is now returning to the sound with which she shines best.
In collaboration with pop production genius Zhone, she relies on playful synthesizers, club-ready energy and free-flowing sounds that almost entirely live up to the album’s title.
The album’s release follows an impressive campaign that has seen Demi upend her old take-everything-too-seriously energy and embrace the memes and moments that once haunted her. (Yes, she even returned to The Bigg Chill, the frozen yogurt shop she once tried to close.)
That changed the way people saw what was to come – and the music reflects that spirit of letting go, remembering the past with a smile and not taking itself too seriously in the present. This mood runs through most of the album.
Synthpop with soul
“How can a diamond like you exist/In a place as dirty as this?” Lovato sings on “Frequency,” which morphs into an upbeat EDM song as she repeats “fuck up the vibe” over a driving beat.
“Kiss” feels like a quintessential Zhone song, transforming the robotic elements he used on Kesha’s “Boy Crazy” into something uniquely Lovato’s – an intro to an EDM classic that’s sure to be remixed at every gay club.
These two tracks are closest to lead singles “Fast” and “Here All Night,” both of which embody the lighthearted mood of the album title.
Despite the playful surface, there is room for self-reflection on the album. Over a radio-ready beat, Lovato gives herself grace on “Sorry to Myself” as she owns up to her mistakes.
“Sorry for the starving, sorry for the burnout, sorry for the one ex who always broke me down,” she sings to herself, referencing her struggles with an eating disorder and the past love that inspired many of her heartbreak songs. (We’re not naming names, but those it concerns know who we’re talking about.)
The love-starved Lovato we met on “Tell Me You Love Me” in 2017? She has found love, is more grounded and ready to have fun.
From drama to gratitude
On “Say It,” the ballad-like anxieties of “TMYLM” creep in before Lovato drives them away: “I already know you love me, but I like it when you say it.” Here, however, Lovato sings from hindsight and a completely different state of mind.
In this track and in “Let You Go,” the production shines without overpowering Lovato’s vocals. And in “Before I Knew You,” she looks back on a past love that she liked to see “sitting little on a shelf,” before assuring us that she “only looks back sometimes.”
This old love seems to keep popping up in her lyrics – and it’s time to let it go.
One last flicker: “Ghost”
If there are any traces of Skyscraper-style ballad energy left on the album, it’s in the final song, “Ghost,” in which she sings to someone she hopes will follow her into the afterlife:
“I hope you flicker the lights and send chills down my spine… I want to be haunted for life by your ghost.”
As sweet as the song is, it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the album.
Zhone defines modern pop
Production-wise, the album is a complete success. For Zhone, who is relatively new to the industry, “It’s Not That Deep” feels like a victory lap.
In just a few months, he’s made a name for himself with Maude Latour’s “Sugar Water,” Kesha’s “Period,” Zara Larsson’s “Midnight Sun” and now Demi Lovato’s return to pop.
Together, they underscore a larger truth: Zhone doesn’t just contribute to today’s pop – he helps define it.
Considering it’s been nearly a decade since Lovato fully embraced “PopVato,” as she called it, the album feels like a return to her electronic pop roots.
This time she doesn’t take herself too seriously and doesn’t concern herself too much with heavy topics. Instead, she delivers a danceable album that leaves behind the ultra-emotional ballads of her past to have fun – with just a hint of regret.