Most of us have witnessed it all before: pop star gets fed up and goes ham on their own music by injecting it with heaviness, fuck yeah! The results are typically laughable, sometimes enjoyable, and rarely actually good. What separates Demi Lovato’s Holy Fvck from most of its insipid spiritual siblings is not only that it actually pulls off what it aims to do, but also that Demi’s roots have long been tied to rock/metal rather than the contemporary adult alternative pop hellscape that they’ve squandered the majority of their career in after graduating from Disney’s creepy farm system. Lovato has always cited acts such as Dimmu Borgir, Job for a Cowboy, Emperor, and Abigail Williams as influences – and while that doesn’t mean that they suddenly know how to write a rock album much less a black metal one, it does tell you that the passion and intent have long been there. In other words, this isn’t some one-off gimmick, it’s actually their musical preference and we just happen to be experiencing it for the first time. In a way, that immediately makes Holy Fvck a more honest work than some comparable pieces by Lovato’s contemporaries.
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. The title track genuinely embodies Lovato’s rock aspirations, with blazing electric riffs wrapped around a tightly-woven melody, whereas ‘Eat Me’ is more of a metallic/industrial hybrid in the vein of Poppy’s I Disagree. ‘Substance’ is a spunky pop-punk number reminiscent of early-discog Paramore, ‘Bones’ is a mischievous and overtly sexual pounder (“So many feelings when you said my name / ‘Cause I want you so bad that I need restraints”), and the late gem ‘Help Me’ is a swervy, unpredictable, and ecstatic rocker that also features Dead Sara’s Emily Armstrong. The pervading aura here oscillates between profanity-laced promiscuity and uplifting self-realization, and neither one feels at odds with the other. Between the uptick in energy and the endless wave of enormous hooks, Holy Fvck is an album that you can immediately derive pleasure from.
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