Music Review: Demi Lovato & Cher Lloyd "Really Don't Care"

Demi Lovato & Cher Lloyd

Really Don’t Care

Album: Demi

Year: 2014

           Demi Lovato scoffs at her ex-boyfriend’s plea to get back together with her in the pulpy “Really Don’t Care.”

                Springy synths open the single, setting a chirpy tone. He told her that he was falling in with her. She told him it meant a lot to her. He shot back that he wasn’t in love with her. At first, she thought that maybe did take what he said too seriously. It was one-time thing. But it wasn’t. He made her think she was being psycho, clingy girlfriend. She realized it was him toying with her and an attempt to avoid any long-term discussion. Then, he broke up with her, telling her he needed space. Then, she saw him out with his new girlfriend a week later, smiling and declaring her the love of his life. Six months later, she gets a phone call from him. He says he was wrong and he gave up the best part of his life. She responds that his new girlfriend found out who he was right away and dumped him. There’s a pause from him on the other end of the line. He says his now-ex girlfriend had heard the things she was saying about him. She tells him “she was smart.”). (“You wanna play, you wanna stay, you wanna have it all/You started messing with my head until I hit a wall/Maybe I shoulda known, maybe I shoulda known/That you would walk, you would walk out the door, hey/Said we were done, then met someone and rubbed it in my face/Cut to the punch, she broke your heart, and then she ran away/I guess you shoulda known, I guess you shoulda known/That I would talk, I would talk.”)

         In the  chorus, she tells him that an apocalypse would ever make rethink their feelings for him. He isn’t saying anything she hasn’t heard before and she wants nothing to do with him. (“But even if the stars and moon collide/I never want you back into my life/You can take your words and all your lies/Oh oh oh I really don't care/Even if the stars and moon collide/I never want you back into my life/You can take your words and all your lies/Oh oh oh I really don't care/Oh oh oh I really don't care.”)

         Somewhere in her room, there is a box of rejected songs with titles  “Still Love You,” and “What Did I Do?” It seems silly now that she wasted time and energy crying over an insensitive jerk. He has no desire to change. She’s going to go back to her old routes and favorite spots again. One the off chance he’s around, she will give him her middle finger and glare. (“I can't believe I ever stayed up writing songs about you/You don't deserve to know the way I used to think about you/Oh no not anymore, oh no not anymore/You had your shot, had your shot, but you let go/Now if we meet out on the street I won't be running scared/I'll walk right up to you and put one finger in the air/And make you understand, and make you understand/You had your chance, had your chance.”)

         The chorus is sung again.

           In the bridge, Cher Lloyd tells her she made the right decision. This time, anyway. However, she adds that Lovato’s taste in guys is terrible. She also berates Lovato’s ex-boyfriend, telling him he left a hot girl. Then, she makes fun of him, saying he can’t pull off the hipster look. He should take a look at himself and see how ridiculous he is. (“Yeah, listen up/Hey, hey, never look back/Dumb struck boy, ego intact/Look boy, why you so mad/Second guessin', but shoulda hit that/Hey Demi, you picked the wrong lover/Shoulda picked that one, he's cuter than the other/I just wanna laugh, cause you tryna be a hipster/Kick it to the curb, take a Polaroid picture.”)

          The chorus is sung again.

          Lovato’s fuming vocals slams every excuse he gives and thwarts it with hard slap.  He keeps calling and texting her. He won’t leave her alone. She’s had enough. Yet, the gullible arrangement remains unbothered and keeps bouncing in the background. Her natural emotional vocals quash the material into smithereens, highlighting the fact it’s a sanitized rewrite of Icona Pop’s “I Love It” which is slightly tweaked to avoid a lawsuit.

       Lloyd’s catty rap thinks it’s perfect. She calls out the ex-boyfriend and mocks him, which is immature but a human reaction. Then, she has the audacity to say that it was really Lovato’s fault. She points she knew the guy she rejected would’ve been better for her. However, she references Polariod pictures as though they are current technology which completely negates any authority she has given herself.

             The  dim  “Really Don’t Care” is a disservice to Lovato, selling her short and wasting her talent.