Illustration by Lusco y Fusco
There are AA meetings everywhere around the world. And not just at a church basement near you. Organized meetings are even held at events notorious for binge drinking, such as popular music festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella, which also has its own Twitter handle: @soberchella.
Now there’s free therapy on a concert tour. Bipolar pop star Demi Lovato recently announced that she will offer group counseling to her fans on show-day, before she sings her first note.
On Good Morning America last week, the 25-year-old “Sorry Not Sorry” singer announced that the counseling sessions would be available on her upcoming Tell Me You Love Me tour.
“We have speakers from all over and we’re also helping out with different charities from around the country,” she told GMA. “So it’ll be an incredible, very moving, and inspiring experience.”
In addition to bipolar, Lovato struggles with bulimia and self-harm, which she began at age 11. And she’s not afraid to talk about it.
Lovato opened up about her conditions in the 2012 MTV documentary Stay Strong.
“This is a daily battle that I will face for the rest of my life,” she says in the documentary. “I was partying, I was self-medicating, I was always stressing out … I felt guilt and shame. I decided to take it out on myself. I harmed myself. It was my way of taking my own shame and my own guilt out on myself, and I was just depressed.”
Cocaine was her drug of choice. When she was 18, Lovato entered rehab at Timberline Knolls, an Illinois treatment facility for women with eating disorders and addiction. She moved into a sober house two years later, in 2012, in order to stay clean. After experiencing a nervous breakdown at the house, she was diagnosed with bipolar.
Lovato is the face of Be Vocal: Speak Up, a campaign to raise awareness about mental health. She also spoke about mental health at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
“Living well with bipolar disorder is possible, but it takes patience, it takes work and it is an ongoing process,” she says on the Be Vocal website. “The reality is that you’re not a car that goes into a shop and gets fixed right away. Everyone’s process and treatment plan may be different.”
Tell Me You Love Me, Lovato’s sixth album, came out last year, and the R&B-flavored record, billed by Lovato as “soulful,” is tinged with moments of hip-hop. The song “You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore” is a pop anthem that speaks to her vulnerable moments as her four diagnoses took over her life. It’s like a breakup screed to her demons instead of an ex-boyfriend.
Like so many artists who struggle with bipolar disorder, it is creativity that not only keeps her busy but gratified.
“Creativity is what helps me escape a lot of my inner demons,” Lovato says in her documentary. “Why not air all my secrets? Why not share my story because some people need to hear it?”
For the first time in the history of music, concertgoers will get to air their own feelings pre-show, an unprecedented maneuver in the world of music.
Lovato is partnering with CAST, a West Hollywood-based treatment center, that has helped her along the way.
Concert-goers can sign up for the therapy sessions, which are free to ticket-holders, by visiting castontour.com.
Demi Lovato’s North American tour dates can be found here. DJ Khaled and Kehlani open.
And if you want to grab a listen, take a look at the pool-party-themed video for “Sorry Not Sorry”:
