New Music: Demi Lovato feat. Lil Wayne - 'Lonely'

In an effort to make music that’s more true to herself, Demi Lovato taps Lil Wayne for “Lonely,” a soulful cut off her just-released sixth album, Tell Me You Love Me.

Over DJ Mustard’s spacious and melodic production, Demi sings about heartache and loneliness. “I always needed saving,” she sings. “But now I’m fuckin’ lonely and you didn’t want me.”

An Auto-Tuned Weezy joins the heartbreak with harmonies about his own disappointments. “Bitch can’t even say ‘I miss you back’ over the fuckin’ texts,” he raps. “Every time you slept over my pad, you over fuckin’ slept.”

This isn’t the first time that Lovato has collaborated with a rapper. In the past, she’s also worked with Missy Elliott and Iggy Azalea, and has even covered Lil Wayne’s “How to Love.”

Tell Me You Love Me also includes “Sorry Not Sorry,” which beat out the album’s title track as the first single, in part thanks to one of her mentors, JAY-Z.

“I played JAY-Z both songs,” she told Noisey. “He said ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ because it was lighthearted. He was like, ‘A lot of people see you do the emotional thing all the time, but they don’t see you have fun!’ And I was like, ‘That’s such a good point.’ And [his opinion] kind of persuaded other people, too.”

Much like “Sorry Not Sorry,” Tell Me You Love Me is meant to be a reflection of her true personality, whether it’s fun or emotional. This is a departure from her past work, according to the star herself.

“When I went on tour and I sang all pop stuff,” she said. “It just wasn’t fun for me. It wasn’t soulful; I wasn’t getting into the songs. It was just kind of going through the motions. And when I came off tour, I was like, ‘You know what, I want to write music that’s going to be fun for me to sing every night.'”