Demi Lovato’s New Single “I Love Me” Is the Self-Love Anthem We Need but Don’t Deserve
Trigger warning: This post contains mentions of eating disorders.
Demi Lovato is back and better than ever, but let’s be real—you knew that. After returning to music following a much-needed hiatus, Demi stunned her fans with a beautiful performance of “Anyone” at the Grammy Awards and then hit up the Super Bowl the same month to perform the national anthem. The beginning of the year is off to an excellent start for Demi, and look at that! It’s only March. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To continue her momentum, Demi just released the newest single from her untitled, upcoming album. It’s called “I Love Me,” and as you may have predicted from the title, it’s a self-love anthem that sees Demi (a) overcoming her past struggles with self-esteem issues and (b) growing to have an unconditional appreciation for simply being herself.
For what it’s worth, Demi seems damn excited about the song. “#ILoveMe is OUT NOW!! I can’t put into words just yet what this past year for me has been...but this song focuses on a lot of what’s been going on in my head,” Demi wrote on Instagram. “We have good days, and we have bad days. The best we can do is be the best version of ourselves and celebrate that with those closest to us. Wanted to also give a special shout-out to all of my Lovatics for always being there for me ❤️❤️2020 is OUR year!”
And lucky for us, Demi dropped a video along with the song, which is chock-FULL of references. (Spoiler: Old Demi and the Jonas Brothers make a sneaky appearance at the 1:56 mark.)
Without further ado, let’s go ahead and dive into the meaning of these lyrics!
Verse 1
Flippin’ through all these magazines
Tellin’ me who I’m supposed to be
Way too good at camouflage
Can’t see what I am, I just see what I’m not
I’m guilty ’bout everything that I eat (every single day)
Feelin’ myself is a felony
Jedi-level sabotage
Voices in my head make up my entourage
This line refers to Demi’s past history with eating disorders. During her recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Demi revealed that her former management team heavily surveyed her food intake and controlled what she ate so she could maintain a slim physique.
She said:
“I lived a life for the past six years that I felt like wasn’t my own. Because I struggled really hard with an eating disorder, yes, and that was my primary problem and then it turned into other things, but my life, I just felt was—I hate to use this word, but I felt like it was controlled by so many people around me.
“If I was in my hotel room at night, they would take the phone out of the hotel room so I couldn’t call room service, or if there was fruit in my room, they took it out because that’s extra sugar. We’re not talking about brownies and cookies and candies and stuff like that, it was fruit.
“This year, when I turned 27—I have a new team—Scooter Braun, my manager, gave me the best birthday cake and I spent it with Ariana Grande, who is one of my good friends, and we just had the best birthday. I just remember crying because I was finally eating cake with a manager that didn’t need anything from me and that loved me for who I am and supported my journey.”
Pre-Chorus
’Cause I’m a black belt when I’m beating up on myself
But I’m an expert at giving love to somebody else
I, me, myself and I don’t see eye to eye
Me, myself, and I
In this line, Demi is acknowledging that she often uses her strength to beat herself up in a negative way. Thankfully, she’s channeling that strength in healthier ways now. For example: Did you know that Demi does Brazilian jujitsu? Yep, true story—last time I checked, she has a blue belt in the practice and she’s super determined to become great at it.
“She trains almost every day during the week for at least two hours. Most people train one hour a day three times a week, but she’s intense,” her coach, Tarsis Humphrey, said. “She does Muay Thai, boxing, cardio, functional training—a lot!”
Chorus
Oh, why do I compare myself to everyone?
And I always got my finger on the self-destruct
I wonder when I love me is enough (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I wonder when I love me is enough (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why am I always looking for a ride-or-die?
’Cause mine’s the only heart I’m gonna have for life
After all the times I went and fucked it up (all the times I went and fucked it up)
I wonder when I love me is enough, mmm (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Demi is single at the moment, but she has been linked to a few people before this new chapter in her life. Recently, sources claimed that Demi was dating rapper Machine Gun Kelly after they were spotted leaving Soho House together in the wee hours of the morning. Before that, Demi entered a brief relationship with baseball outfielder Austin Wilson, but they broke up in December after a few weeks of dating. And of course, the longest and highest-profile relationship Demi had was with Wilmer Valderrama, who she broke up with after six years of dating. Wilmer’s engaged to be married to model Amanda Pacheco now, but Demi’s not salty about it.
“There are issues that I haven’t conquered yet that I know I won’t conquer if I’m relying on somebody else to take care of the loneliness,” Demi said of her relationship with Wilmer in her Simply Complicated documentary. “That was one of the reasons why we broke up, because I’ve never been alone. It had nothing to do with falling out of love. We decided together we just probably are better as friends.”
Post-Chorus
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
Verse 2
Haters that live on the internet (on the internet)
Live in my head, should be paying rent
I’m way too good at listening (listening)
All these comments fucking up my energy (energy)
Like many people, Demi has her issues with social media. As a famous person, Demi’s even more vulnerable to mean comments on her page, because people suck! But instead of allowing the rude comments to get her down, Demi's simply using social media as a tool to stay in touch with her fans, and nothing else.
After dropping "I Love Me," Demi went on New Music Daily on Apple Music and opened up about what her relationship with social media is like now that she's in a better headspace. She said:
“My relationship to social media is very simple right now. I don't let people tag me and stuff. I turned that set off on the settings. I don't even think I have like, I let the comments on. I mean, I might. I don't even really check to be honest. I wouldn't even know. But it's just so not important to me. What's important is that when I get to communicate with my fans, so sometimes I have, I follow some fan accounts or just have some fans that I message back and forth. Like staying in communication with them through that way or utilizing social media to have a platform and get my message across that way is important as well. But when it comes to things like letting it ruin my, you know, mood...because someone said something negative, I don't let it do that anymore. And I've gone to great lengths to actually protect myself from that, which I think unfortunately is something that people have to do nowadays.”
[Pre-Chorus]
'Cause I'm a black belt when I'm beating up on myself
But I'm an expert at giving love to somebody else (Expert)
I, me, myself and I don't see eye to eye
Me, myself and I (Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh)
[Chorus]
Oh, why do I compare myself to everyone?
And I always got my finger on the self-destruct
I wonder when I love me is enough (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
I wonder when I love me is enough (Yeah, yeah, yeah)
Why am I always looking for a ride or die?
'Cause mine's the only heart I'm gonna have for life
After all the times I went and fucked it up (All the times I went and fucked it up)
I wonder when I love me is enough (Is enough; yeah, yeah, yeah)
[Post-Chorus]
Is enough (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) Yeah
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
[Bridge]
I'm my own worst critic, talk a whole lot of shit
But I'm a ten out of ten even when I forget
I, I, I, I, I (I'm a ten out of ten, don't you ever forget it)
I'm my own worst critic, talk a whole lot of shit
But I'm a ten out of ten, even when I forget (Hey, oh)
I, I, I, I, I (Yeah)
[Post-Chorus]
Yeah, yeah (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) Yeah, yeah
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) I wonder when I love me is enough
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
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