The song begins with currently recovered Lovato chronicling a 2018 substance dependency relapse, which would lead to a near-fatal overdose later that same year.[5] The opening verses describe the relapse's initial phase, which was primarily with red wine: "It's just a little red wine, I'll be fine/ Not like I wanna do this every night/ I've been good, don't I deserve it? I think I've earned it/ Feels like it's worth it in my mind."[6] The second verse describes an introduction to heavier drugs: "A little white line" that eventually became "a little glass pipe."[7]
Ultimately, Lovato becomes addicted to smoking heroin, singing "Tinfoil remedy almost got the best of me,"[5] and confessing in the pre-chorus that during this time, "I told you I was OK, but I was lying."[7] The track's chorus, "almost made it to heaven" by "playing with the enemy / gambling with my soul", refers to a past overdose. Lovato also sings about the grip that addiction had and the psychological difficulty it imposed, repeating throughout the song "It's so hard to say no / When you're dancing with the devil".[8]
Lyric video
A lyric video was released with various visually muddled graphics, including imagery of an ocean, flames of a fire, and butterflies.
Music video
The video for "Dancing with the Devil" is a detailed re-creation of the events involved in Lovato's 2018 drug overdose, sexual assault, and harrowing near-death experience, as well as the aftermath in the hospital the days after.[9] The music video is a re-enactment, and includes the green jacket worn that night with scenes of substance abuse at a party, followed by proceeding home and unzipping of the drug dealer's duffel bag in Lovato's bedroom, and later the drug dealer looming ominously over the singer's unconscious and unclothed body, presumably after a sexual assault.[9] The paramedics are then shown reviving and transporting Lovato to the hospital, where a neck tube is sewn in, in order to pump out blood, clean it, and pump it back in.[9] This is followed by scenes of family and friends shuddering at the hospital during the first post-overdose day, when survival was in doubt.[9] Finally Lovato wakes up, and is given a sponge bath by a nurse, which reveals a "survivor" tattoo near where the neck blood tube used to be.[9]
Critical reception
Prior to its release, "Dancing with the Devil" was described by Shana Naomi Krochmal of Entertainment Weekly as "evok[ing] Adele's "Skyfall" theme".[10]Billboard described the song as "powerful" and "confessional".[11] Rob Harvilla of The Ringer, describes the song as "an expert slow-burn barrage of Bond Movie Theme extravagant melodrama."[9]
Published by DDLovato Music/Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP), Seven Summits Music obo itself and High Rise Life Publishing (BMI), John Ho (ASCAP), Money Making Machine, I Just Can't Read Music (ASCAP) administered by Kobalt Songs Music Publishing (ASCAP)
^Paul, Larisha (March 18, 2021). "Demi Lovato Teases Ariana Grande Collaboration On New Single". uDiscover Music. Retrieved April 2, 2021. ...The third Dancing With The Devil...The Art Of Starting Over single "Dancing With The Devil" will be released on March 26.
