Sometimes we get so caught up in the world’s perception of us that we forget how we really feel. That’s the moving sentiment at the heart of Sam Fischer’s new duet with Demi Lovato, “What Other People Say.”
The emotional mid-tempo pop song, the video for which dropped on Tuesday (Feb. 16), is a tour de force of empowerment that opens with a confessional verse from Lovato.
“Thought when I grew up I would be the same as the ones who gave me my last name/ I would not give in, I would not partake/ In the same old drugs everyone else takes,” Lovato sings. “I’m better than that, I’m better than that/ I’m living my life so I go to heaven and never come back/ But look where I’m at, look where I’m at/ I’m living the life that I said I wouldn’t, I wanna go back.”
“’What Other People Say’ is a confession, realizing how far away you can get from who you are in an effort to be liked,” said Fischer in a statement about the song. “It’s about the pressures of society and how getting caught up with the wrong things can change you.” Lovato added, “This song is a reflection on what it’s like to lose who you truly are in an effort to please other people and society. It’s why I wanted to make this song with Sam – ultimately it’s about two humans coming together to connect and find solutions to their problems.”
Australian native Fischer, a former Billboard One to Watch artist, broke through three years ago with his song “This City,” about how Los Angeles almost broke his spirit, followed up by last year’s album Homework. Fischer wrote “What Other People Say” before “This City” became a hit and in the statement he said that he always knew it would be a duet and was “blown away” when Lovato signed on to accompany him.
“Written about a feeling of being alone and not wanting to let people down, the pairing takes two different lives and perspectives and unites them in one message of human experience, emotion and togetherness, so they are alone with one another in the song,” according to the statement.
Fischer, who has worked with everyone from Louis Tomlinson to Elle King, Lennon Stella and Jessie J, sings, “I wish I could shelter the boy I knew/ From the constant hell I put him through/ ‘Cause I’m all grown up and I’m black and blue/ I could use some tape, I could use some glue,” on the track, before teaming with Lovato on the pre-chorus, “I’m better than that, I’m better than that/ I should be living my life so I got to heaven and never come back.”
Watch the video for “What Other People Say” below.
i love seeing all of u shine in ur tiktok vids with the #WhatOtherPeopleSay hashtag. u all are so beautiful & I’m emotionalllll 🥺🧡
— Sam Fischer (@SamFischer) February 4, 2021
