Confident by Demi Lovato

Album cover for Confident - Demi Lovato

Confident is the fifth studio album by American singer and songwriter Demi Lovato. It was released on October 16, 2015, by Safehouse, Hollywood and Island Records. Demi Lovato is never shy with her album titles. She shrugged that her second album offered more of the same (Here We Go Again), she bounced back whole from a turbulent spell (Unbroken), then she found a new mature identity (Demi) and, now on her fifth album, she's all about being Confident. Deservedly so, too, because this 2015 album is Lovato's best all-around record since her 2008 debut, Don't Forget. Confident is steely, assured dance and shimmering electro-pop, as much a reflection of its time as the sugary blast of Radio Disney pop on Don't Forget. If that debut seemed somewhat driven by producers, Confident feels directed by Lovato, who seems to take some pride in being a bit of a pop magpie, sampling from every glittering sound flickering across the pop charts in the two years since Demi.

The title is no idle boast: Demi Lovato’s fifth album is their most assured. Enlisting master craftsmen of 21st-century pop such as Max Martin, Stargate and Ryan Tedder, they've built a collection of sparkling, hip-hop-laced electro-pop that’s impressively punchy in tone and melody. Self-empowerment is the motif as Lovato chews up haters (“Waitin for You”), chases sexual adventure (“Cool for the Summer”) and confronts heartbreak and grief on gale-force ballads “For You” and “Father”.