Demi Lovato is no stranger to fame. From newbie to teen queen to pop star, Demi is now a successful well known Disney graduate. Demi's career began early after she began acting on Barney with fellow ex-Disney star Selena Gomez. From there she moved to minor and guest roles until landing her spot on Camp Rock, auditioning with Ain't No Way. Demi has since starred in her own sitcom Sonny With A Chance and released 4 albums under Hollywood Records. Demi has amassed 3 Billboard Top 10 hits, with Skyscraper, Heart Attack & This Is Me, and all of her albums reached the Top 4 on the Billboard 200, one reaching #1 and her latest, Demi sold over 110,000 copies within the first week of sales, her personal best. Demi's vocal weapon, aside from her powerful pipes is her emotion. She can make you feel every word she sings. Skyscraper is one of the best examples. Demi is also public and very open about her struggles with cocaine and substance addiction as well as her issues with bulimia nervosa. Here is her profile, separated by time period. Enjoy!
P.S. I found it necessary to split her section into parts because of the longevity of career & how much her voice has changed.
P.S. I found it necessary to split her section into parts because of the longevity of career & how much her voice has changed.
Vocal Range: C#3-Eb6 (3 octaves, 2 notes)
Voice Classification: Lyric Mezzo
Demi Lovato: 2007-2010
LOW NOTES (D3-G3)
Demi's lows were almost non existent in this time period. Demi managed to go down to an D3 in the studio and an E3 live, but they were pushed and she sounded like she was struggling to get them out. I'll include a link to all the range vids I'm referencing. F3 is the lowest she sounded comfortable on. She was a soprano in this period, maybe a soubrette or a lyric, so the lack of low notes weren't unexpected.
MID BELTS (C5-E5)
I think this may have best area in this time period. Demi always slayed the C#5 in La La Land and they sounded pretty effortless. Her D5s were good as well. She was great at refraining them from being shouty, but still making them powerful. However, 2010 was a bit more rocky. I think her voice had started showing more signs of suffering from purging as she found it more difficult to sustain notes above C5, her Here We Go Again D5s sounded strained and the Got Dynamite E5 was either sustained briefly and strained or hit for a second. I kind of miss the scratchy, raw rasp her voice had, even though it was caused by damage to her chords (and I don't want her to ever ever purge again, believe me) it was a nice sound, to whereas in 2011 her voice became a bit more shrill (more about that later), but her mid belts suffered in a way as a result.
HIGH BELTS (F5-G#5)
This was undoubtedly not the highlight of her voice in this time period. Her F5s were pretty decent for the most part even though her HWGA note is pretty strained. But it wasn't as bad as her GMA performance of Can't Back Down. The F5 in there might be the most dreadful one Demi's ever hit. F#5 and beyond, you could easily hear the strain on her voice and I suspect she used high larynx here, her belts sounded very Xtina/Christina Grimmie-like which basically means high larynx chaos. Of course her upper register wasn't fully developed and her purging situation highlighted it but her upper belts were shouty and strained but didn't sound awful.
HEAD VOICE (E5-G#5)
Her head voice in Don't Forget is really nice and pleasant to listen to. Unfortunately, head voice was pretty much neglected at this time and she never really used it.
Demi's Live Vocal Range 2008-2010
Demi's Studio Vocal Range 2010
Demi Lovato: 2011-2012
LOW NOTES (D3-G3)
Demi's lows had gradually started getting better at this point, not necessarily meaning going lower but she gained more resonance in her E3s, which were questionable in her earlier years. Her lowest studio note was again D3, but it was harmonized and could've easily just been computerized. Her lowest note was an E3, I noticed them in her VEVO live performance of GYHAB. Usually the key of the verses was altered to avoid the studio Eb3s she hit which were drowning in autotune. Most of the time I only heard A3s, G#3s and G3s but the key in that performance allowed her to hit some decent E3s. Of course VEVO edits their live presentations but I like to think she hit them pretty well.
MID BELTS (C5-E5)
Demi's mids were great in this period. Her belting had gotten significantly louder but it proved not to be an issue in this error. Her Unbroken D5 is one of my favorites, it's so resonant and sometimes she hit it using the sliding note technique and pretty much made it the coolest thing. In this generation she finally nailed the E5 from Got Dynamite, I'm not saying every performance was pitch perfect but she showed immense improvement.
HIGH BELTS
The first high belts we could hear were from Skyscraper, the big G5 note was raspy and had some strain most of the time. On first tour dates upper belts were a bit more heady, F5s from MLILAS already had vibrato and she threw lots on F5s on You're My Only Shorty and All Night Long which tend to be growled later proving her ability to stay in that part of her range for long time or phrase them on Lightweight. Demi proved she could sustain the G5 from Unbroken on some performances, although not strained not too resonant either. G#5s from You're My Only Shorty were first more heady and built from a melisma after they later became more resonant. A5s from All night long were many times flat and the ones from How to Love were either flat or sharp but most of the times easily hit.
Unbroken Tour Vocal Range
Unbroken Album Vocal Range
Demi Lovato: 2013-Present
Around this time her lower register improved a lot, being able to reach a very solid C#3 in the studio on Neon Lighs. This note took some performances until it came as good as in the studio on Ellen, but it's not secure in her throat. She could also phrase the Eb3s on MITUSA a few times and get down a very resonant E3
MID BELTS (B4-E5)
This part of her range, except for certain notes on certain songs, also improved and these belts sounded more rounder and resonant. Demi sustained longer notes, many of them when avoiding climax notes of Got Dynamite and Fire Starter and it fit really good to the songs. The B4s on Neon Lights were killers and effortlestly sustained for long periods of time. However, proving how much rest she needed, E5s on How to Love, accompained by fast phrased C5s and D5 became more forced, like the first performances of the Unbroken era.
HIGH BELTS (F5-A5)
On the first months of 2013, Demi was still improving on her upper belts and hit toons of resonant A5s, sometimes even three times in a row effortlesly. After her tonsils removal, it seemed like her voice would come back 100% after a while, and after singin lessons, it did on the first dates on the Neon Lights Tour to later worsen one more time.
When she sang How To Love again, she avoided the A5 (I think it was due to changing the lyrics a bit on that part and forgoting how the run was though). All the upper belts on Fire Starter, were extremely forced and tense, posibly because they already were forced on the studio version and if the setlist wasn't long enough, the key of Nightingale was risen right before the F#5s to hit G5s instead and the result was almost as dreadful as Xtina sounds on easiest notes. Demi recently hit a flat A5 (G#5) and an A5 performing MLILAS on her first world tour performance. They were struggled, but showed signs of improvement.
The conclusion we get is that Demi has shown good potential throught all her range, but her voice right now isn't in good condition, she needs resting her voice in a sauna and visit a vocal coach to re-learn how to mix her belts.
Mariah Carey, for example, was in a bad condition in Butterfly era (1997/8) but later in Glitter/Charmbracelet era (2001/2003) sounded much better because of taking care of her voice.
Demi has for sure lost some notes, and if she visits a vocal coach and they came back it will be very slowly since her vocals have been almost a complete year like this.
Neon Lights Tour Vocal Range
Demi Album Vocal Range
The conclusion we get is that Demi has shown good potential throught all her range, but her voice right now isn't in good condition, she needs resting her voice in a sauna and visit a vocal coach to re-learn how to mix her belts.
Mariah Carey, for example, was in a bad condition in Butterfly era (1997/8) but later in Glitter/Charmbracelet era (2001/2003) sounded much better because of taking care of her voice.
Demi has for sure lost some notes, and if she visits a vocal coach and they came back it will be very slowly since her vocals have been almost a complete year like this.
Neon Lights Tour Vocal Range
Demi Album Vocal Range
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