Recently, Demi Lovato posted a photo that showed them surrounded by their team all dressed in black, with the caption, “a funeral for my pop music.” Then a week ago, they posted a photo of themselves as a young teenager, rocking out onstage in a Motley Crue t-shirt, and captioned it, “15 & it wasn’t a phase.”  Now, Demi’s explaining what it all means in regards to their future music.

I would say it’s a new era. I’m ever-evolving, ever-changing. I’d like to put the rest of my music behind me and start fresh in this new era for this next album — but I do that every album cycle,” Demi tells Rolling Stone. “It honestly wasn’t a funeral. It was a label meeting and we just all happened to be in black and I was like, ‘Wow, this is like a funeral for my pop music.’ There wasn’t an actual funeral.”

When asked if they’re returning to what Rolling Stone calls their “rocky, emo early days,” Demi says, “That, but better. And also, there’s a bit of… and when I say heaviness, I don’t mean lyrically, but heaviness as in some of the sound that I haven’t done before, which is exciting. It’s a new era reminiscent of my first era.”

In other words, the singer notes, “I’m not changing with the new music. I’m just going back to my roots!”  They add that they’re “excited to be working on new music.”

While we wait for that, you can hear Demi singing with Winnetka Bowling League on their new collab, “fiimy (f**k it, i miss you),” which is out now.

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