Why "Anyone" Was The Only Song Demi Lovato Wanted For Her Grammys Comeback

After more than a year out of the spotlight, Demi Lovato returned to the stage at the 2020 Grammys. But there was a time when the singer thought she might never perform again. While speaking about her 2018 hospitalization on SiriusXM's Radio Andy, Demi Lovato admitted she didn't think she'd ever return to music after recovering. But, when she did think of her musical comeback, she knew it was going to be with her song "Anyone."

"It was a general [thought] though," she explained to host Andy Cohen. "We didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know how healthy I would be when I left. It was a scary time in my life, for sure." However, the singer was determined that if she ever did return to the stage, it would be with the song she performed at the Grammys, "Anyone," which she recorded just days before she was hospitalized due to an apparent overdose. "I knew that it represented that period in my life when everything hit the fan. I knew it represented everything I was going through, the vulnerability," Lovato said of the powerful song.

"I've never had a moment like this where I've sat down at a piano, or stood next to a piano, and sang my heart out," she continued, adding that she was still in the hospital when she thought, "If I ever come back from this... I want it to be at the GRAMMYs and I want it to be this song."

That moment was very much on Lovato's mind when she took to the stage during the Grammys on Jan. 26. As she told Cohen, she was "overwhelmed and overtaken by emotion" when she began to sing. "It was very much in my head, like, this is the first time you're on stage in a year and a half," she said. "And then, also, I put myself back in that hospital bed listening to that song, on little speakers in the ICU. I put myself back in that position and I was just overwhelmed."

While Lovato hasn't revealed whether or not "Anyone" is indicative of the sound on her new album, the singer's next release will reportedly be her "most vulnerable" music yet. "[Demi has been] working very hard on new music since last year," a source told E! News in early January, adding that the singer is hoping to have an album out by the summer or fall of 2020. "She has spent several months of 2019 in the studio and is still finalizing her album to this day," the source said. "She has put so much effort into it, and it is going to be the most vulnerable album she has put out."

The singer underlined that vulnerability in her post about "Anyone" on Instagram when she debuted it on the awards show stage. "This is a raw recording from July 20th 2018," Lovato wrote at the time. "Even tho I’m pretty much a perfectionist with recording, I thought this was better to be left the way it is."

According to E! News' source, much of Lovato's new music will deal with her mindset before and after the July 2018 hospitalization and her subsequent work to maintain her sobriety, much like her latest single. "She had a very trying year and has a lot she wants to share with her fans through her music," the source continued. "Writing the music has been very therapeutic for Demi and has helped her a lot in her sobriety."

It's been a long and difficult journey for Lovato to return to the spotlight after her hospitalization, but it looks like the singer is ready to make her return and help others along the way.