Demi Lovato is starting over. The singer revealed in her emotional new single, “Sober,” that she relapsed after more than six years of sobriety.
“Mama, I’m so sorry I’m not sober anymore / And Daddy, please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor,” Lovato, 25, sings during the chorus of the track, which she released on Thursday, June 21. “To the ones who never left me / We’ve been down this road before / I’m so sorry, I’m not sober anymore.”
Later in the song, the Grammy nominee apologizes to her “future love” and “the fans I lost.” She confesses, “I wanna be a role model / But I’m only human.” The ballad ends with the lyrics, “I’m sorry that I’m here again / I promise I’ll get help / It wasn’t my intention / I’m sorry to myself.”
Fans flooded social media with messages of support for Lovato shortly after “Sober” dropped. “We appreciate your truth. We love you regardless of everything. We have no idea how hard it was for you, but remember you’re never alone. Stay strong!” one Twitter user wrote. Another tweeted, “I’m so proud of you Demi to share the truth must be hard for you but know that true Lovatics would never ever judge you… We [are] here for you.”
The “Confident” songstress (who recently canceled a series of London concerts due to swollen vocal cords) celebrated six years without drugs and alcohol on March 15. She commemorated the milestone on Twitter at the time, writing, “Just officially turned 6 years sober. So grateful for another year of joy, health and happiness. It IS possible.”
Lovato has been candid through the years about her struggles with addiction, bipolar disorder and an eating disorder. She first checked into rehab at the age of 18 in 2010 and entered a sober house for about a year in 2013.
“I wasn’t ready to get sober,” she recalled in her 2017 YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated. “I was sneaking [cocaine] on planes, sneaking it in bathrooms, sneaking it throughout the night. Nobody knew.”
The former Disney Channel star co-owns CAST Centers, the Los Angeles treatment facility where she was a patient as a teenager.
