Why Is Everyone Sleeping on Demi Lovato's Incredible New Single?

On Aug. 24, Demi Lovato released her newest single, "Tell Me You Love Me." The anthemic song is a follow-up to her previous party song, "Sorry Not Sorry." I'm explaining all of this because it's come to my attention that the 25-year-old singer's banger has gone severely unnoticed and I'd like to correct this injustice.

Let's start by making it clear that pity is not warranted here. Demi's music releases are continually successful. Her last album, Confident, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album. What's more, her ubiquitous single "Cool For the Summer" peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received double platinum certification. (Yeah, there's a reason you just got that damn song out of your head.) It's likely that her sixth studio album — also titled Tell Me You Love Me — will follow suit when it becomes available in late September.

Though I wasn't crazy about "Sorry Not Sorry," the impending album's opening track, "Tell Me You Love Me," is an excellent single. Demi's vocals are full, powerful, and just unequivocally her. The lyrics are vulnerable and plead for help. The chorus begs, "Oh, tell me you love me / I need someone on days like this, I do," adding, "You ain't nobody till you got somebody." The music is catchy, too, described as "a swelling ballad full of horns and handclaps" by Rolling Stone.

Despite its merits, the song has not received the same industry and consumer attention. It has not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100, although "Sorry Not Sorry" currently stands at No. 18. It also hasn't made it on Spotify's United States Top 50 playlist. It's also worth noting that Demi seems to be promoting "Sorry Not Sorry" more aggressively at the moment anyway. She even performed it at the recent MTV Video Music Awards.

But why is everyone sleeping on "Tell Me You Love Me"? Bad timing might have had an effect. See, Demi's single was released the very same day as Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do." The comeback song is Taylor's first since 1989 was released three years ago. What's more, it's petty as hell and steeped in an eight-year-long feud that began at the 2009 Video Music Awards when — well, you know the story by now.

Unfortunately, it seems as though Demi's single may have been eclipsed by one with a louder and more dramatic headline — which, fair. I'd be lying if I said I didn't wholeheartedly engage in the chatter surrounding "Look What You Made Me Do." What I'm also not saying is that we must pit these two artists against each other simply for releasing music on the same day. There's no place for that argument anywhere. It ultimately comes down to the fact that both artists released completely different songs and one is garnering more attention for obvious reasons.

It'll be really funny if "Tell Me You Love Me" suddenly becomes a massive hit and this theorizing would have all been for nothing. Honestly, I hope that happens! If it doesn't, though, I'll continue listening and thinking about what could have been.