Demi Lovato

HOLY FVCK

Whether it's a genuine transformation or just a brief exercise for the pop chameleon, the triumphant Holy Fvck is a refreshing change of pace and an utter thrill to experience for those willing to look past the headlines into the heart of an artist who continues to grow in the public eye.

Holy Fvck is mostly just a fun, upbeat rock album. It’s not as “heavy” as many critics will proclaim it to be, but it does possess the ability to be catchy, anthemic, and immensely enjoyable. Most of the songs here check those boxes, making for a consistent batch of gritty, punky pop-rock bangers.

HOLY FVCK isn’t an album about holding onto trauma, it’s one about releasing it - and doing so in rip-roaring fashion. In this way, it instantly joins the pantheon of great rock albums centred around exorcising trauma.

Empowering and cathartic, Demi Lovato has created a refined and sophisticated collection of songs with Holy Fvck that is their best work lyrically to date.

Is Holy Fvck groundbreaking? No, but arguably it never set out to be. What it is, is raw and honest reflections from an embattled star whose time in the public eye has cost them dearly, and they’ve at last found freedom in their roots. And surely, that’s enough.

Demi Lovato has long sung about rebirth. On Holy Fvck, she enacts it by jettisoning the pop-R&B palette that has defined her records for a decade.

Holy Fvck has its flaws – Lovato’s powerful voice is unnecessarily finessed and Auto-Tuned, and 16 tracks is too long. But its gutsy ambition is a thing of substance in and of itself.

The star harks back to their earlier days with this collection of head-banging guitar solos and ferocious riffs – though the slowies let it down a bit.

Holy Fvck sounds like a genuine attempt to deal with a troubled adulthood and leave the past behind.