“Met Him Last Night” by Demi Lovato (ft. Ariana Grande)

Demi Lovato has sure been giving a lot of shoutouts to “the devil” as of late. For instance, the project which this very song is derived from is entitled “Dancing with the Devil” (2021).  

As far as that title goes, “the Devil” is supposed to be symbolic of the singer’s battle with drug addiction. But in the case of “Met Him Last Night”, that demonic appellation is actually intended to represent a romantic interest. 

In other words, on this track “the devil” is the person whom the singers “met… last night”. So the general or shall we say logical implication is that said romantic is someone whom they knew they shouldn’t be messing with from the jump.

And that is in fact the idea upon which this song is premised. The guy(s) who the ladies are singing about is trying to seduce them, and in both cases they are indeed attracted to “the devil”. 

And the reason they are able to recognize him as such is because they dealt with him before. And that may not be in a literal sense, as in having met this dude prior. But rather it’s more like they know his type when they see it.

So based on such foreknowledge, ideally they are not giving in to his wiles. And seemingly, they put up a good fight in that regard at first. Yet and still they find themselves “spending the night” with him. 

Moreover they think they’re in love with this figure, even though they know, once again, that behind the physical attraction he is an unsavory character.

What “Met Him Last Night” is all about

So perhaps the simplest way of describing this track is as a song of seduction. The titular “devil” is representative of a playa if you will, a romantic interest who is extremely appealing yet up to no good. 

Or another way of looking at it is that he likes to use ladies. And having dealt with such dudes before, both Demi and Ariana can recognize one from the jump when he approaches them. 

However, let’s just say that their attraction to the devil overrides their repulsion of him. Or yet another way of perceiving the situation as the two of them clearly liking bad boys. 

So it’s like one of those ‘I’m only going to do it this one last time’ type of scenarios. But at the end of the day the insinuation is that if “the devil” were to approach them again, they’d be more or less powerless to do anything about it, as they are now. 

And concerning the aforementioned usage of the word “devil” in relation to drug addiction, clearly as far as the album at hand goes, said term is used as a personification of the various vices which Demi Lovato possesses.

Release of “Met Him Last Night”

The first mention of this song is said to date back to an interview the New York Times conducted with Demi Lovato, which was published on 16 March 2016. 

Then Lovato in particular got to teasing the tune on 22 March. Republic Records and Island Records then went on to release it about a week later, on 2 April 2021. 

This track is from Demi’s album entitled “Dancing With the Devil… the Art of Starting Over”. 

Has Demi Lovato collaborated with Ariana Grande before?

Prior to this track, the answer is no.

This marks the first time Demi has teamed up with Ariana, the latter being one of the very-top musicians in the game at the moment. For instance, her last album leading up to this track, 2020’s “Positions”, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and Billboard 200, in addition to achieving the same feat in a few other countries.

But this is not to imply that Demi is any type of slouch. The last album she dropped prior to “Dancing with the Devil… the Art of Starting Over” was “Tell Me You Love Me” in 2017. 

The said project peaked at number 5 on the UK Albums Chart and number 3 on the Billboard 200. And unlike “Positions”, it has also achieved platinum status in the United States.

Writing Credits for “Met Him Last Night”

The writers of the song are Ariana Grande, Stanaj, TBHits and Xavi. And the latter two also produced the track in conjunction with Mitch Allan.

Demi and her Addiction Problem

Concerning Demi Lovato’s aforementioned drug-abuse issues upon which the title of “Dancing With the Devil…” is based, according to the songstress she suffered a near-fatal opioid overdose in 2018. 

And that is the primary subject matter upon which “Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil”, a four-part documentary series that came out just prior to the album, is centered on.

Demi is a singer from New Mexico. On her father’s side, she is primarily Mexican and on her mother’s side European. 

She was actually a professional actress before becoming a singer, having taken up the former when she was about 10 years old. 

And whereas she does still dabble in acting from time to time, in the years that followed she has established herself as a star musician. For instance, her sophomore album, “Here We Go Again”, topped the Billboard 200. 

And all 6 albums she has dropped up until this point have ranked within the top 5 of the Billboard 200.

Did Demi Lovato release “Met Him Last Night” as a single?

No. The song’s album was backed by three single releases:

• “Dancing with the Devil”
• “What Other People Say”
• “Anyone“