Don't Forget

Considering that Demi Lovato’s debut album, Don’t Forget, appeared in the fall of 2008, just as Miley Cyrus was inching away from Hannah Montana and into more adult territory, it’s hard not to think that Demi isn’t being groomed as a replacement for Miley, but a better musical comparison for this Radio Disney queen is the Jonas Brothers. Lovato appeared in the Disney TV movie Rock Camp with the Brothers and toured with them prior to the release of Don’t Forget, but the more crucial connection between the two camps is revealed in the album’s credits: six of the 11 songs here were co-written by the Jonas Brothers. Given this, it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that Demi’s music sounds a lot like the Brothers: it’s bright, sugary, snappy power pop, fueled by big, fuzzy guitars and big, muscular hooks. Unlike the Brothers’ 2008 album, A Little Bit Longer, there is no attempt to sell Demi Lovato to an audience broader than tweens, so this is pure, unapologetic bubblegum, a fizzy rush of singalong hooks occasionally punctuated by a bit of sighing puppy love, which surfaces most strongly on “On the Line,” an actual duet with the Jonas Brothers. This is fine fodder for a middle school slow dance, but what’s really memorable about Don’t Forget is its parade of urgent, insistent guitar pop — the kind of pop that feels disposable but winds up sticking around longer than its more considered cousins. This kind of trashy fun was missing on A Little Bit Longer, so it’s nice to find that it surfaces proudly on Don’t Forget. It’s pure pop for tween people. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine