Her story in a song. Demi Lovato released her new single, “Anyone,” immediately after her emotional performance at the 2020 Grammy Awards on Sunday, January 26.
The Grammy nominee, 27, wrote the piano ballad just four days before she suffered a near-fatal drug overdose at her Hollywood home in July 2018. She was subsequently hospitalized for nearly two weeks and then spent approximately three months in rehab.
“I wish I could go back in time and help that version of myself,” Lovato said in an interview with Apple Music Beats 1 host Zane Lowe ahead of the song’s release. “I listen back to these lyrics and I hear it as a cry for help.”
The former Disney Channel star explained that she listened to the track during her time in the hospital and immediately knew that she wanted to perform it when she returned to music.
“If I ever come back, I want to sing this song,” she recalled thinking.
Lovato has battled addiction since she was a teenager. She first checked in rehab in 2010 and spent a year in a sober living facility in 2013. She celebrated six years of sobriety in March 2018, but revealed that June in her song “Sober” that she had relapsed. The following month, she made headlines for her overdose.
Multiple sources told Us Weekly in March 2019 that the Camp Rock actress briefly checked back into a treatment center after completing 90 days in rehab.
“It was Demi’s decision, and she checked out after about two weeks,” one source said. “She is in a better head space and recognizes the seriousness of her addiction.”
Lovato has since been busy at work on her seventh studio album, which is expected later this year. Next up, she is set to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIV in Miami on February 2.
Read the lyrics to “Anyone” below:
I tried to talk to my piano
I tried to talk to my guitar
Talked to my imagination
Confided into alcohol
I tried and tried and tried some more
Told secrets ’til my voice was sore
Tired of empty conversation
‘Cause no one hears me anymore
A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody’s listening to me
Nobody’s listening
I talked to shooting stars
But they always get it wrong
I feel stupid when I pray
So, why am I praying anyway
If nobody’s listening?
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
I used to crave the world’s attention
I think I cried too many times
I just need some more affection
Anything to get me by
A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody’s listening to me
Nobody’s listening
I talked to shooting stars
But they always get it wrong
I feel stupid when I pray
Why the f–k am I praying anyway
If nobody’s listening?
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
Anyone, please send me anyone
Oh, Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
Oh, anyone, I need someone
Oh, anyone, I need someone
A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody’s listening to me
Nobody’s listening
