Before they were singers and before they starred in their own respective shows on Disney, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez's friendship first blossomed thanks to their childhood appearances on Barney & Friends. This is to say, they go way back, which explains why Gomez was perhaps the most emotional when it came to watching Lovato perform for the first time since her 2018 hospitalization at Sunday night's Grammy Awards.
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Lovato debuted her new song "Anyone," which she described to Zane Lowe as a "cry for help," written just days before her overdose in 2018. Her Grammys performance of the single was understandably tearful, and Gomez was cheering her on from home.
"I wish there were words to describe how beautiful, inspirational, and DESERVED this moment was," Gomez wrote on her Instagram Story. "Demi, I'm so happy for you. Thank you for your courage and bravery."
Gomez spoke to Elle shortly after news of Lovato's health crisis broke in 2018 and was shaken by the news.
"All I’m saying is, I reached out personally," she said. "I didn’t do a public thing. I didn’t want to. I…I love her. I’ve known her since I was seven. So…it’s…that’s what I’ll say."
When Lovato spoke to Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1 last week ahead of the Grammys, she recalls the song as a warning of what was to come.
“You kind of listen back to it and you kind of think, how did nobody listen to this song and think, ‘Let's help this girl.’ You know what I'm saying?" she said. "Because, and I even think that I was recording it in a state of mind where I felt like I was okay, but clearly I wasn't. And I even listened back to it and I'm like, ‘Gosh, I wish I could go back in time and help that version of myself.’ I feel like I was in denial, but then a part of me definitely knew what I was singing for. I was singing this song, and I didn't even realize that the lyrics were so heavy and emotional until after the fact.”
Listen to "Anyone" below.