Demi Lovato set records with her viral performance of “Heart Attack” at an American Heart Association event, insisting it wasn’t her idea to sing the hit song.
“I’d like to say they asked me to sing that, because I reported it beforehand and I was like, ‘Hmm, this isn’t the vibe, is it?'” the musician recalled on Thursday’s “The Elvis Duran Show,” referring to the group.
Lovato said AHA told her fans “wanted to hear” the 2013 song, and she reluctantly agreed.
“And of course people online say, ‘Why did she sing that?'” she continued. “Apparently it wasn’t me, I reported it!”
The pop star infamously performed the song at the AHA’s annual Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection concert in 2024, which aims to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease.
Fans immediately thought the song choice was odd considering Lovato suffered three strokes and a heart attack from a near-fatal overdose in 2018.
“Hmm, it’s a little dark, isn’t it?” one X user asked another fan shortly after the performance. “She didn’t think this through,” added another critic.
However, sources told Page Six at the time that carrying out the “Heart Attack” was a strategic move encouraged by the AHA, as Lovato claimed in a recent interview.
“For several years after Demi’s heart attack and near-death experience, we thought she would never be able to sing ‘Heart Attack,'” the source explained, adding that the performance allowed her to “bring back” the song.
The Grammy-nominated artist gave a meaningful speech to the audience before the song.
“My next song is about falling in love, the intense emotions that come with heartbreak, opening yourself up, taking risks, and not being afraid to do the same again. This song has a lot of similarities to me and my journey so far, and it reminds all of us in the room how strong the connection between mind, heart, and body really is,” she said on stage.
Our source also said that not a single audience member was offended by the song choices during her performance.
