American Music Awards: Demi Lovato Sends Powerful Message With “Sorry Not Sorry” Performance

Demi Lovato sang an empowering rendition of her hit single “Sorry Not Sorry” during the American Music Awards on Sunday night.

Lovato began her performance sitting in the audience as she watched the screen show a montage of hateful comments directed at her on Twitter.

“There’s so much hate in this world. We have to rise up and never say ‘sorry’ for who you are,” Lovato yelled to the crowd while walking up to the stage to kick off her performance.

The singer then began performing her successful single, belting out high notes as a crowd of female dancers surrounded the stage. A choir of gospel singers donning “sorry not sorry” shirts were also singing behind Lovato. The tune is the first single off of Lovato’s No. 1 album Tell Me You Love Me and has become one of the singer’s fastest-rising hits in her career thus far. The song is recognized as her highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, with more than 350 million global streams.

Apart from a new album, Lovato also released a documentary on YouTube titled Simply Complicated, in which she offered a glimpse into the making of her album. The singer provided an open and raw interview on her past experiences with drug abuse, her bipolar-disorder diagnosis and her struggles with an eating disorder.

The AMAs are airing live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross is hosting.

Watch part of Lovato’s performance below.