“SUBSTANCE” by Demi Lovato

Understanding Demi Lovato’s “SUBSTANCE” requires a bit of reading in between the lines, in a manner of speaking. The vocalist depicts herself as being, shall we say more enlightened than the average person.  And that’s because Demi feels as if she’s “the only one looking for substance”. In other words, what’s being more or less implied is that the way most people live is unfulfilling, and that coming to such a realization does not require rocket science. 

So the way the vocalist looks at it is as if the masses should be searching for more than what’s being readily presented to them. But since they aren’t, as for her personally, she seems to have resolved to do so on her own.

And at the basis of this whole tirade would be the premise that the society, as it currently stands, is in a less-than-ideal state. Or as explained by Demi in her own words, “the content we intake, to the activities we do in our normal lives” have now reached a point where they’re “lacking substance”.

So what is fueling the vocalist, conclusively, is a desire not to find herself also relegated to such a state.  For instance she has apparently experimented with drugs in the name of staving off a feeling of mediocrity but has learnt that is not the solution. As such, Lovato doesn’t particularly come off as someone who has actually found a way to defeat the aforenoted mainstream modus operandi. But in the meantime, she prides herself as someone who at least isn’t blindly falling for it.

When was “SUBSTANCE” released?

Island Records made “Substance” available on 15 July 2022 as the second single from Demi Lovato’s eighth studio album titled “Holy Fvck”. 

Demi Lovato got to teasing this track a couple of weeks before its release. 

Did Lovato write this song?

Yes. The singer wrote this track in conjunction with the following songwriters:

• Alex Niceforo
• Jutes
• Laura Veltz
• Keith Sorrells
• Oak (who also produced it)

Music Video

This song’s music video was directed by an artist known as Ssion, aka Cody Critcheloe. And the clip, which Lovato described the making of as being “so much fun”, features long-standing reality star Paris Hilton.