Demi Lovato is an artist who has made the most of every second during 2017. In what has been a truly phenomenal year for the songstress, we have seen her release a brand new album, collaborate with some amazing artists, continue her incredible philanthropic work, release a documentary, and even earn herself her very first Grammy nomination.
Packing an eye-watering amount of goodness into 2017, we’ve done our very best to recap Demi’s mind-blowing year in full. Here’s Demi Lovato’s year in review.
WE Movement
Demi Lovato started off her 2017 with some philanthropic work in aid of WE Movement. Returning to Kenya, having previously visited in 2013 for her 21st birthday, Demi continued her work with the Maasai mamas and their families. During her visit, Demi visited the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage which helps to return orphaned baby elephants into the wild. The songstress also visited a school and helped to build a new space for the Mamas to work.
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GRAMMY Awards
On February 12, Demi attended the 58th GRAMMY Awards. The songstress achieved her first ever nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album for Confident. Whilst she didn’t take home the award, she did her Lovatics proud as always. She also performed on the GRAMMY stage, taking part in a tribute to the Bee Gees.
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Beyond Silence
February also saw the release of Beyond Silence, a Be Vocal documentary which was executive produced by Demi. The documentary focuses on three individuals and their experiences with mental illnesses. Having long been very open about her own mental health battles, Demi was the perfect executive producer. The documentary’s content is a talking point which will encourage and inspire others to raise awareness and speak up about mental health.
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‘No Promises’ with Cheat Codes
On March 31, Demi teamed up with Cheat Codes to release ‘No Promises’. Since its release, the collaboration has been certified gold in the UK, platinum in the US and 2x platinum in Australia. A music video for the song was released in May, with Demi and Cheat Codes also performing the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Celebrating five years of sobriety
March also saw Demi reach a huge personal milestone. Taking to Instagram, she revealed that she had officially been sober for five years and shared a personal message with her fans.
“So grateful. It’s been quite the journey. So many ups and downs. So many times I wanted to relapse but sat on my hands and begged God to relieve the obsession. I’m so proud of myself but I couldn’t have done it without my higher power (God), my family, friends, and everyone else who supported me. Feeling humbled and joyful today. Thank you guys for sticking by my side and believing in me.”
In celebration of her incredible feat, it was reported that Demi donated money to several Los Angeles based charities covering causes such as animal, LGBT and adoption rights.
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In recent years, Demi has been extremely vocal about the struggles that she’s faced, from her battle with drink and drugs to her mental health. In March, she was honoured with the Artistic Award of Courage at The Jane and Terry Semel Institute’s biannual Open Mind Gala. The award recognises those who raise awareness and reduce the stigma of mental health issues.
Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2017
In April, Demi was named as one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2017. Speaking about why Demi was chosen, Thrive Global founder and CEO Arianna Huffington said: “After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, instead of hiding it she partnered with Be Vocal, a campaign devoted to getting people to speak up about mental illness and the stigma around it. She has also been a public role model, unashamedly chronicling her struggles with substance abuse (she is now five years sober) and eating disorders. And having been bullied as a child, Demi has taken up the cause to protect other children.”
“Demi Lovato is a remarkably talented artist and performer. But her courage, honesty and willingness to use her own experiences to help others are what make her a true star. She hasn’t just grown up—she has grown up in wisdom.”
Demi was also invited to perform at the Time 100 Gala, where she sang ‘Confident’, ‘Stone Cold’, and ‘Cool For The Summer’.
Divas Riff-Off
April also saw Demi Lovato appear on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Whilst she appeared as a guest on the sofa with Charlie Hunnam and Rupert Friend, the highlight of the show was her Divas Riff-Off with James.
With James claiming that the old school divas are more fierce than today’s ones, Demi set out to show that today’s feisty females can certainly hold their own. Following an epic sing-off, James declares Demi the winner, but she concludes with the fact that “maybe there’s a world where divas then and divas now are both great.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsB9bQdueG4&t=526s
Fabletics
In May, Demi announced that she was teaming up with Fabletics, Kate Hudson’s sportswear line, to create her own capsule collection. Speaking about the collection, Demi said: “Being active is a huge part of my life, so it was important for me to create a line that’s accessible, comfortable and fashionable, while inspiring you to take care of your mind and body.”
The first collection contained a selection of leggings and tops, before a second collection was released in August. A portion of the proceeds went straight to the United Nation’s Girl Up initiative.
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‘Instruction’ with Jax Jones and Stefflon Don
June saw Demi team up with British DJ Jax Jones and rapper Stefflon Don for one of the hottest tracks of the summer, ‘Instruction’. An official music video for the bop was released on August 2, and the song also appears on Just Dance 2018.
Demi and Jax delivered the first televised performance of the song on Good Morning America on August 18. However, November 10 saw all three artists perform the song together for the first time on BBC’s Sounds Like Friday Night.
‘Sorry Not Sorry’
Whilst we enjoyed Demi featuring on two hot collabs at the start of the year, July finally gave us the new era of Demi Lovato music that we’d been craving. After a lot of teasing online, Demi dropped ‘Sorry Not Sorry’, the first single from DL6, on July 11. When we spoke to Demi on the phone in July, she told us that ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ was the perfect first release from DL6 as “it’s unapologetic, it’s got attitude, and it’s soulful.”
A week later, on July 19, she released the fun music video which saw her throw an awesome house party. The visual featured appearances from Paris Hilton, Wiz Khalifa and Jamie Foxx, as well as a whole host of Demi’s friends. To support the release of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’, Demi celebrated with a house party tour across the States, visiting cities such as Boston and Dallas.
Good Morning America
On August 18, Demi braved the rain to perform for Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series. Taking to the stage at Rumsey Playfield, she was joined by Jax Jones and Cheat Codes to perform ‘Instruction’ and ‘No Promises’ respectively. Demi also performed ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ for her loving Lovatics.
Tell Me You Love Me
On August 23, Demi shared the exciting news that everyone had been waiting for. Confirming that her new album Tell Me You Love Me would be released on September 29, Demi also revealed the album artwork and a snippet from the title track.
The following day, the title track ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ was made available as an instant grat if you pre-ordered the album. The soulful RnB offering gave us another insight into what we could expect from the album, and it’s safe to say that Lovatics around the world couldn’t get enough.
Before the album was unveiled to the world on September 29, Demi ramped up the excitement by releasing two more of the songs as instant grat tracks. The powerful ‘You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore’ was released on September 8, whilst ‘Sexy Dirty Love’ followed on September 22.
Demi also revealed the album tracklist on September 13, with the help of her loyal Lovatics. Taking to Twitter, 12 fan accounts tweeted the name of a track from the album, which was later retweeted by Demi herself to form the tracklisting.
On September 29, the big day came and Tell Me You Love Me was released for the world to hear. The album received positive reviews from fans and critics. Here at CelebMix, we absolutely loved it, and you can read our review of it here. The album charted at number five in the UK Albums Chart, Demi’s highest UK placement to date, whilst it debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200.
Demi celebrated the album release with a listening party in the UK and with an official iHeartRadio Album Release Party in New York.
Performing the National Anthem
On August 26, Demi performed the National Anthem at the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight. She was personally chosen by Mayweather to perform, and as a huge MMA fan it was a huge honour for her to perform.
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MTV Video Music Awards
On August 27, the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards were held at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Demi’s ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ was nominated for ‘Song of the Summer’. Although she couldn’t be present, Demi pre-recorded a performance of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ from Las Vegas which was aired on the night.
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The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
On September 18, Demi made a welcome return to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. During her appearance on the show, Demi spoke about the ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ music video and working with Kate Hudson on her Fabletics collection. She also took the Best Friends challenge with Jimmy whilst they exchanged gifts for their 10th BFF anniversary. Demi also had the opportunity to perform ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ for the audience, donning a stunning red jumpsuit. Check out all the videos below.
Global Citizen Ambassador
On September 23, Demi was named as a Global Citizen mental health ambassador. In her new role, she will help to fund the expansion of a Save the Children pilot program called Healing and Education through the Arts. The progam will encourage affected children in Iraq to heal from trauma by using various art forms such as drawing and music.
Speaking about her new role, Demi said: “Ending the stigma around mental health conditions and supporting internally displaced children to build physical and mental resilience through education and access to justice is not a choice, it needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.”
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Vevo Live
To celebrate the release of Tell Me You Love Me, Demi hosted a Vevo Live on September 29. During the hour long special, she spoke about her new album, her musical influences, answered bundles of fan questions and even premiered two special Vevo x Demi Lovato performances of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ and ‘Tell Me You Love Me’.
The Jonathan Ross Show
On September 30, Demi’s interview on the Jonathan Ross Show was aired in the UK. Whilst she participated in your usual kind of promo, finishing with a performance of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’, Jonathan also quizzed Demi on various things from chatting up British men to the infamous Poot Lovato.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Having appeared on The Ellen Show earlier in the year, Demi returned on October 4 to perform and chat. In addition to singing ‘Sorry Not Sorry’, she opened up about her Simply Complicated documentary and addressed a certain rumour about a certain friend that she might have ‘Ruined the Friendship’ with…
The Today Show
October also saw Demi pay a visit to The Today Show studios in order to perform both ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ and ‘Tell Me You Love Me’.
Simply Complicated
As we’ve mentioned previously, it’s common knowledge that Demi aims to be as open as possible about her personal struggles. In October, she opened up once more and shared an extremely raw and personal documentary called Simply Complicated.
The documentary explores Demi’s troubled early life, and her battles with addiction, eating disorders and mental health which soon followed. We couldn’t be prouder of Demi for speaking out about her issues and we’re certain that her documentary will help others to spark a conversation about the various subject matters. The Director’s Cut is now available on YouTube Red.
Announcing her 2018 tour
On October 26, Demi announced that she will be heading out on a North American tour with DJ Khaled in 2018. Since then, it’s also been revealed that they will be joined by Kehlani. Whilst the North American tickets are flying out, the rest of Demi’s fans across the world are waiting with bated breath to see if she will be coming to their country next year.
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MTV EMA
On November 12, Demi returned to London for the MTV EMA 2017. The singer was nominated for ‘Best Pop Artist’, and whilst she didn’t win, she did slay the audience with a rousing medley of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ and ‘Tell Me You Love Me’. Demi also served some fierce looks, including this eye-catching red carpet suit.
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During her time in the UK, Demi also appeared on BBC’s Sounds Like Friday Night and performed at Free Radio Live in Birmingham.
Live Lounge
Demi rounded off her UK trip by returning to BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge (November 13). In addition to incredible performances of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ and ‘Skyscraper’, Demi wowed us all with a beautiful rendition of Sam Smith’s ‘Too Good At Goodbyes’, which even got the seal of approval from the man himself.
‘Échame La Culpa’ with Luis Fonsi
On November 17, Demi’s final collaboration of the year was released, and it was without doubt the hottest of all. Teaming up with Latin legend Luis Fonsi, the pair dropped the sizzling Spanglish track ‘Échame La Culpa’.
Whilst the track hasn’t quite reached the ‘Despacito’ levels of success, ‘Échame La Culpa’ has already broken records and reached some incredible milestones. Upon its release, the music video accrued more than 17 million views in the first 24 hours, breaking the Vevo Latin record.
According to Kworb, it also became the fifth-fastest video in history to reach 100 million views, the fourth-fastest video in history to reach 200 million views and the fourth-fastest video in history to reach 300 million views on YouTube. It is the fastest collaboration in history to reach all three milestones.
The 2017 American Music Awards
Another day, another awards ceremony. On November 19, Demi delivered her most fierce performance of ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ yet during the American Music Awards. Sitting in the audience, the singer watched as a series of insults that had been tweeted to her appeared on the screen. She then made her way to the stage, telling the crowd: “There’s so much hate in this world, we have to rise above and never say sorry for who you are”.
‘Tell Me You Love Me’ music video
At the end of November, Demi began to tease her Lovatics about the music video for ‘Tell Me You Love Me’. Images of the singer in a wedding dress had surfaced online, and it wasn’t long before we were all invited to the wedding of Demi and Jesse.
On December 1, Demi dropped the highly anticipated visual and it was certainly worth the wait. The emotionally charged video focuses on Demi and Jesse’s relationship, documenting the good and bad before they arrive at the altar. However, the wedding doesn’t go as smoothly as we’d hope, as Jesse jilts poor Demi before they get to say ‘I Do’.
Jingle Ball Tour
To finish off the year, Demi has been busy on the Jingle Ball circuit in America. Performing in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale, Demi delivered stunning performances which gave fans a little insight as to what they can expect from her forthcoming tour.
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Phew! What a sensational year Demi Lovato has had. From delivering incredible bops and show-stopping performances to working tirelessly to raise awareness for a variety of issues and charities, there has been no stopping Demi.
2018 looks set to be just as spectacular and we cannot wait to see what Demi Lovato will deliver in the New Year.
What’s been your favourite Demi Lovato highlight from 2017? Did we miss anything out? Let us know on Twitter @CelebMix
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