Unbroken, a pop album released on September 20th, features the musical talents of teen star Demi Lovato in a different, yet familiar way. The album contains 14 tracks all revolving around the general theme that one can tear his or herself down quickly, yet the rebuilding takes time and a careful touch.
The album name refers to the idea that she has come through her troubles “unbroken” and will continue to survive with positivity and strength.
Constantly named in tabloid magazines as a teen pop music sensation who just left rehab for depression, Lovato brings a raw touch to many of the songs on her junior album Unbroken, leaving it mostly untarnished by cheesy rap songs and poor writing that so harshly affected and destroyed the quality of her previous releases Don’t Forget and Here We Go Again. While she has recently released herself from Disney’s strict supervision, she remains very easy to typecast into that role. Many teenage girls will always see her as an equivalent to Miley Cyrus or Selena Gomez.
However, Lovato’s newest songshint at the true artist potential she possesses. While belting out songs with more depth and emotion than anything the public has heard from her before, Lovato demonstrates that she is growing into a more mature artist.
The CD opens with “All Night Long” featuring Missy Elliott and Timbaland, where shallow lines like “Put your number in my phone” repeated several times in a row contribute to an overwhelming disappointment amongst the many other thought-provoking songs on the album. The choice to choose this song as the lead-in to the disc shows that Lovato is targeting a younger audience, while her lyrics in many songs to come lean to more adult audiences.
In the ballad “For The Love of a Daughter,” she inspires feeling in the listener as she tackles controversial issues such as alcoholism and child abuse. The chorus’s cutting words “Please father/Put the bottle down/For the love of a daughter” describe a horrible trauma that too many young girls must experience.
The song “Fix a Heart” epitomizes the problems and the successes within this release. The song’s steady and enthralling melody pull the listener in, and the first few lines only build on the tension. However, the song is easily spoiled by lyrical immaturity when Lovato, her voice full of deep feelings and regret, belts out, “And I just ran out of Band-Aids®!”
Although at times, her new leaf finds itself simply humming along in the background, while monotonous lyrics and auto-tuned voices replace decent music. The song “You’re My Only Shorty” featuring Iyaz should easily be a top hit on the charts, but the song’s melody and lyrics do not seem to capture the listener’s ear like most rap/pop crossovers do.
While Lovato has taken a decisive step towards establishing herself as a serious contender in the music business with this album, she continues to spoil her potential success with mundane, ordinary tunes. It will take several more releases, each gradually building upon itself in quality and intensity, to legitimately take her from kids’ music to the world of adults.
