6 June 2023 - Demi Lovato - Heart Attack & Cool For The Summer (Rock Versions)

In 2013, Demi Lovato would release what would be a top 10 single - "Heart Attack".  Scott WROTE about this song in 2013.  

In 2015, Demi Lovato would release what would be a top 11 single - "Cool For The Summer".  I WROTE about this song in 2015.

I have to say, in the spirit of Wicked Guilty Pleasures, I love both of these songs.  We could have just as easily based this blog over our mutual appreciation of Demi Lovato as we could have over Ashlee Simpson.

Fast forward to 2022. In anticipation of changing styles, Demi held a funeral for her pop career.

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That does not mean that she forgets all her old music, though.  In celebration of the 10th anniversary of one of her biggest hits - "Heart Attack" - Demi rerecorded and rereleased it, in her new style.

I have to say, it works.  Clearly, you can hear the song's old style, but also, you can hear a new reading of the lyrics, sung by someone who, in 2023, has a lot more life experience.  In 2013, she was 20, a kid with a Disney career and not much life experience.  Now, she's 30, and she's had some struggles - in love, with drugs (she famously overdosed in 2018 and I'm quite thankful she pulled through), and in life.  She's singing from a different point of view now.  She, quite literally, has HAD a heart attack.  And it is, in many ways, a better song for it.

So, why rerecord ANOTHER song on its not-as-momentous 8th anniversary?

The rock version of "Cool For The Summer" was released on May 25, 2023 - just in time for Memorial Day and the summer season.  Having already expressed a desire to rerecord this song in a rock format for her last album, Holy Fvck, she finally did it - and as a song that pop-rocked in its original version, I didn't have high expectations that this would be better.  Or that she'd still be whispering "don't tell your mother" in a rock style.  

Holy Fvck, this song absolutely rocks.  The synthesizers from the original are gone and replaced with fuzzy guitars.  I was completely blown away by this.  It's a mature take by an adult on a matureish song sung by a not-quite-adult.  

By the way, I was right.  She changed the lyrics to "Go tell your mother", which is a more mature lyric.