Review Summary: Confident inconsistency.
Confidence is a trait most people treasure. Many people can relate to wanting to walk with your head held high every day, being happy with yourself, happy with your life and feeling like everything is on the up and up. If the title wasn’t a dead giveaway, Demi Lovato’s
Confident is inherently about being confident in yourself. The former Disney star has had a fairly publicized history of cutting, but of late she’s been doing her best to reverse that image. Things like her “all natural” nude shoot for Vanity Fair and posting makeup-less selfies on social networks are, at the very least, pointing towards a happier Demi.
Confident itself is Demi’s musical declaration that she’s found the self-esteem she lacked in her younger years. It manifests most prominently in the lead singles, the title track and then the bonafide banger “Cool For The Summer”. The latter especially is possibly Demi’s strongest composition to date, featuring sensual hooks and beats and absolutely oozing chemistry. Bombastic power pop hits are where Demi flourishes, most likely because the style lends itself so well to the ideals she puts forth with
Confident. When Demi goes in, she really
goes in (besides the singles, see “Old Ways”, “Waiting For You”, and “Wildfire”), but there are quite a few tracks that unfortunately drag the album down.
It does feel like Demi overshoots the mark in her attempt to express herself. Particularly a handful of tracks lean more towards R&B, soul, and gospel which just don’t suit Demi all that well. She can sing, make no doubt about that, but they feel out of place next to many of the other songs. Songs like “For You” and “Lionheart” are outright skippable, and closer “Father” isn’t much better. Even the title track, an otherwise fine song, could be seen as a bit too on-the-nose lyrically for some. Essentially,
Confident has some truly shining moments, but quite a bit of it bogs down to the point where even her tremendous voice can’t pull it back out. Demi sounds confident for a certainty, and that’s admirable, but inconsistency is an altogether different beast to deal with.
