Demi Lovato brought the Grammys audience to their feet on Sunday night, when she delivered her first live performance since her overdose in 2018.
During the ceremony, Demi debuted a new song, Anyone, which presenter Greta Gerwig told viewers had been written just four days before the singer was rushed to hospital after overdosing 18 months ago.
It was a particularly emotional performance for Demi, who was even forced to start the song again after she was too choked up to continue singing, with the lyrics dealing with the loneliness she felt at her lowest moments in July 2018.
“Talked to my imagination, confided into alcohol, I tried and tried and tried some more,” she sang in the song’s first verse. “Told secrets ’til my voice was sore, tired of empty conversation, ’cause no one hears me anymore.”
She continued: “I feel stupid when I pray, so, why am I praying anyway? If nobody’s listening… anyone, please send me anyone, lord, is there anyone?
“I need someone, anyone, please send me anyone, lord, is there anyone?”
Demi’s powerful performance earned her a standing ovation from those in attendance, but also won her huge acclaim from viewers on social media…
Immediately after the performance, Anyone was made available to download and stream.
She recently told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of the song, which was actually recorded four days before her near-fatal overdose: “You kind of listen back to it and you kind of think, ‘how did nobody listen to this song and think [to help me]’. I even think that I was recording it in a state of mind where I felt like I was OK, but clearly I wasn’t.
“I even listened back to it and I’m like, ‘Gosh, I wish I could go back in time and help that version of myself.’ I feel like I was in denial.”
Demi previously addressed her struggles with addiction in the song Sober, which she debuted in June 2018, featuring lyrics about a recent alcohol relapse.
Three months earlier, she had celebrated six years of sobriety.
Anyone is expected to feature on Demi’s forthcoming seventh album, slated for release later in 2020.
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