Demi Lovato bares her soul in Dancing With the Devil docuseries

Warning: This review includes discussion of substance abuse and sexual assault. 

In a new YouTube Original docuseries called Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, pop singer Demi Lovato talks about her harrowing near death experience. Over the course of two hours, the four-part docuseries offers a raw and candid account of Demi’s painful battle with drug abuse, sexual abuse, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, self-harm and alcohol addiction.

Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil had a world premiere as opening night headliner at this year’s virtual SXSW festival, which ran from March 16-20.

The film kicks into overdrive with Demi talking with her close friends, doctors and family members about the day she almost died. She admits to self-medicating with a deadly cocktail of drugs including heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine.

The songstress confesses that she was victimized and taken advantage of by a drug dealer while she lay comatose and covered in vomit after a drug overdose in 2018. “Too much of anything will kill you,” she says to the camera.

Her best friend Matthew Scott shares how he reacted when he got the news that something bad had happened three years ago. “Is she alive?” He recalls asking someone. The same friend tells us that he praised Demi for making it to her 28th birthday because at least she would not become a member of the dreaded “27 Club,” a reference to the phenomenon where rock stars who die young from substance abuse often do so before their 28th birthday. (Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison are all examples of this.)

During this time period, Demi reveals she suffered from three strokes, a heart attack, brain damage, blindness, pneumonia, organ failure and permanent vision loss. Her survival was a miracle. We see that a special machine had to be used to drain her blood, clean it and transfuse it back into her body.

Director Michael D. Ratner uses talking head interviews, concert performance clips and reenactments to tell the story about how Demi has been battling her personal demons. There are many bombshell revelations throughout the special, including Demi’s #MeToo story.

“When I was a teenager … I lost my virginity in a rape,” she confesses. “My #MeToo story is me telling somebody that someone did this to me, and they never got in trouble for it. They never got taken out of the movie they were in. There’s the tea.”

The pressures of having to be presented to the world as the perfect Disney role model who wore a promise ring also took a toll on Demi’s psyche. “I was part of the Disney crowd that publicly said they were waiting until marriage. I didn’t have that romantic first time with anybody — that was not it for me.”

The film unfolds like you’re sitting in a confessional with your best friend who is sharing their darkest times with you. Demi was found by her assistant, Jordan Jackson, on the fateful day of her drug overdose. Jackson explains that she was afraid to call for help and had to sneak away to dial 911 ambulances.

“My doctors said I had five to 10 more minutes left [to live],” Demi admits.

The doc also offers insight into her quick engagement and separation from her fiancé, Max Ehrich, both of which happened last year during quarantine.

“Honestly, what happened is that I think I rushed into something that I thought I was supposed to do,” she says. “I realized as time went on that I didn’t actually know the person I was engaged to. It was false advertising.”

Lovato has relapsed since the day she almost died and thinks she has “nine lives.” Christina Aguilera, Elton John and manager Scooter Braun offer her guidance and advice, but ultimately she has the final decision on the choices that she makes. “Telling myself that I can never have a drink or smoke marijuana, I feel like that’s setting myself up for failure. But I also don’t want people to hear that and think they can just go out and try it. It isn’t for everybody. Recovery isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. You shouldn’t be forced to get sober if you’re not ready and you shouldn’t get sober for other people. You have to do it for yourself.” She now takes Vivitrol injections to curb her addictions.

Demi Lovato is brave enough to bare her soul about tragic mistakes that she has made in her life. The gamble to confess all she’s been through makes Demi more relatable and human. The audience can’t help but connect to her pain and heartache. “Thanking God for all the love and support I’ve felt from my fans, friends, and family over the past 24 hours,” she wrote on Instagram. “My heart is so overwhelmed in the best way.”

She continued, “I love you all so much and thank you for your messages…you have no idea what they mean to me. We’re in this together and I feel you with me — thank you”.

Demi Lovato’s new album

The songstress announced the release of a new album to coincide with the documentary’s debut. Called “Dancing With the Devil… The Art of Starting Over,” the album will arrive on April 2. Variety reports that includes a collaboration with Ariana Grande.

“If you listen to it track by track, if you follow the track-listing, it’s kind of actually like the non-official soundtrack to the documentary. Because it really does follow my life over the past couple of years,” Lovato said. “When we went through the track-listing and kind of mapped out how it kind of coincided with my life’s story, it made sense to add the more emotional stuff in the beginning and then transition into ‘The Art of Starting Over.’”

Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil will premiere for free on Tuesday, March 23 on Demi Lovato’s YouTube Channel, with new episodes to be released weekly on each of the next two Tuesdays.