Demi Lovato's 'It’s Not That Deep' Isn't Dramatic, It’s Just Brilliant: Album Review
- Abby Anderson
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Stand-out tracks: "Fast" "Sorry to Myself" "Ghost"
Our favorites: "Let You Go" "In My Head" "Before I Knew You"
Release date: October 24, 2025
Label: DLG Recordings / Island Records
For fans of: Charli xcx, Dua Lipa, Kim Petras
For Demi Lovato, it’s finally not that deep. Her ninth studio album, It’s Not That Deep, released October 24 via DLG Recordings and Island Records, lightens the heavy, cathartic themes of her past eras in the glow of late-night, dancefloor-ready pop. Over the past three years, Demi has reclaimed her narrative—ditching rock for euphoric dance-pop, getting married, leaving old drama behind, and creating some of the strongest music of her career. Leaning into a new energy that feels authentic, commanding, and a magnetic intentionality, It's Not That Deep proves that sometimes the best music comes when the artist is finally at peace with herself.
It’s Not That Deep opens with “Fast,” a dizzying club-pop infiltration of the message that maybe love really isn’t all that complicated. It’s a dazzling façade, much like the one Lovato has hid behind in many of the hits she’s had at varying points in her career—one that’s alluring and addictive, but distinctly avoidant. In a haze of club pop that gives Lovato the closest thing we’ve seen to BRAT, “Here All Night” and “Frequency” morph Demi into a carefree dance-pop siren, with production credits from Zhone (Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, KESHA) giving a sonic identity to the edge that makes Demi unique.
Letting her guard down for the first time, “Let You Go” is a fresh reinvention of the music that would have shot to the top of the charts in the mid-2010s era of pop, when Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love” and Rihanna’s “Kiss It Better” reigned supreme. It’s a massive claim to make, but “Sorry to Myself” may just be the single best, most pivotal song of Demi Lovato’s career. Whether by accident or design, the nod to her colossal hit “Sorry Not Sorry” makes the self-apology even deeper, with the implications of every line of the chorus hitting a reference to one of her past hits being revolutionary to the fans who have followed her for the last two decades. She sings, “I’m sorry to myself / For lying in the mirror, pouring salt in the cut,” landing a subtle nod to “Fix a Heart” from Unbroken with discreet ease; that specific correlation is everything you need to know about the healing Demi Lovato has finally reached.
But this album is called It’s Not That Deep, so Demi won’t let the beat fade for too long. She hits a string of rock-solid pop tracks that never miss; “Little Bit” is effervescent, “Say It” is dreamy, “In My Head” is tough as nails, and “Kiss” is as clever and seductive as they come. As the album comes to a close, she lets her guard down again; “Before I Knew You” recognizes the strength it takes to acknowledge in hindsight that you became someone you're not to fit expectations out of fear of not being loved. Dancing over a simple pop beat that lets the weight of the song hang in its lyrics, Lovato sings, “Used to think we’re two in a billion / Now I need a second opinion / Wish I could go back to the way I was / I liked me more before I knew you.” But she turns the page to the love she has accepted for herself despite her flaws in album closer, “Ghost”: “I have a tendency to dwell on all the darkest possibilities / No guarantee that we’ll wake up together when we fall asleep / Oh, the one thing that I’m scared of is that your love could be temporary.” Holding the crisp, electronic production of the record while also giving Demi’s unparalleled vocals and raw string instrumentals room to breathe, “Ghost” is the pinnacle of It’s Not That Deep.
Overall, It’s Not That Deep feels like the album Demi Lovato has been waiting her entire career to make. From an artistic lens, she’s experimented with rock, pop, soul, and R&B, but finds her perfect balance for her talent and fresh attitude in club pop. She leans on the mature writing style she adopted for Tell Me You Love Me, while honing in on the production success she found back with Confident. And personally, she finally seems ready to say, 'For the first time, I’m happy. I'm content. I can look back at what I’ve been through. I can admit that I’m still afraid it won’t always stay this good. So I want to enjoy it while it does. It's really not that deep.'
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