Demi Lovato is living true to the name of her new album.
The Confident singer recently bared it all in a completely nude and unretouched photo shoot for a new series of portraits by photographer Patrick Ecclesine for Vanity Fair, and Lovato explains to E! News' Maria Menounos that her latest musical masterpiece was actually part of the driving force to do the racy spread.
"There was never a time in my career where I was completely stripped down, not just of makeup and not just of clothes, but no Photoshop either," Demi tells us at Soul Cycle in Hollywood. "We live in a world where everything is touched up, even pictures that people post on Instagram now. So I wanted to put it out there, the opposite of what people are kind of expecting from me right now."
She continues, "I wanted to show people that with this album, I wanted to make a statement, and I want that statement to be empowering towards women. And I want to inspire other women. For someone who's had body image issues since they were a child, I went from hating every inch of my body to showing every inch of my body to the entire world and without touching up anything. I wouldn't have done that six months ago, because I didn't have the confidence that I do today."
Lovato also adds that there have been moments when she's asked to remove the editing done on her photos. "A lot of times I get frustrated because people will, without my consent, Photoshop my body and it doesn't look like my own body. Like, no no no, my thighs are bigger than that, can you put them back to the way they were? I've literally done that before where I'm like, ‘No, put my legs back on me. Those aren't my legs."
However, it's also been evident that Demi's physical appearance has changed, too. Have you seen "Cool for the Summer"?! Mama is HAWT.
But her lifestyle change and training wasn't primarily to lose weight, it was to get her mind right. "That's what this whole lifestyle change was about. It wasn't necessarily to lose weight, although that's a byproduct and it's awesome, but for me, I needed to get in that mental strength because that's what I felt I was lacking and needed to be strengthened," she explains.
Watch the clips above for more on our exclusive interview with Demi, and don't forget to pick up your copy of Confident when it drops this Friday!