Demi Lovato

Culture + Style

Where Demi Lovato Would Happily Swim with Sharks Again

Demi Lovato performing in Los Angeles. (Photo: Getty Images for Marriott)

Demi Lovato can’t wait to swim with sharks again. That’s when she can find the time.

Given her grueling travel schedule, it’s naturally hard for Lovato to get much down time between performances, recording sessions, and award shows. She’s not complaining, of course. It’s all part of the job of being a successful recording artist.

But a recent trip to the islands of Bora Bora — over 4,000 miles from Los Angeles in the South Pacific — left a really big impression.

Marriott TRAVELER caught up with the singer, as she was about to hit the stage with Joe Jonas’ DNCE to put on an electrifying show in downtown Los Angeles, in front of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

It was literally like a real postcard,” Lovato said of Bora Bora, just moments before her big show with DNCE. “I had a hut over the water, and it had a clear glass floor, which was amazing. You just get to swim, lay out, go to dinner and just … love life.”

She’d go back to Bora Bora anytime — calling it her ideal trip, in fact. That makes sense, given that Lovato calls herself “a tropical girl,” who likes “any place where it’s really warm and where the water is clear with white sand.”

But Lovato’s trip wasn’t only about kicking back on the beach.

“I swam with sharks too, which was pretty cool!” she exclaims.

Demi Lovato and DNCE's Joe Jonas, JinJoo Lee, Cole Whittle and Jack Lawless performed for Marriott Rewards members at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. (Photos: Getty Images for Marriott)
Demi Lovato and DNCE’s Joe Jonas, JinJoo Lee, Cole Whittle and Jack Lawless performed for Marriott Bonvoy members at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. (Photos: Getty Images for Marriott)

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 22: Recording artists Cole Whittle and Joe Jonas of DNCE, Demi Lovato, and JinJoo Lee and Jack Lawless of DNCE attend the Demi Lovato and DNCE Concert for Marriott Rewards members at JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE on September 22, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for Marriott)

Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato

As great as Bora Bora was, when Lovato gets a free moment, it’s not always about taking a vacation. She travels for charity as well.

“I went to Kenya a couple of years ago and I’m going to go back soon,” Lovato says. “I’m really excited about that.”

We asked Demi what she would recommend people do when visiting Kenya, and she had two simple pieces of advice. The first? “Good,” she says. “Do good stuff.”

Lovato got a taste of that when she helped build a school as part of the Me to We Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, on her 21st birthday, calling the experience “amazing.”

To date, WE Charity has built more than 1000 schools and schoolrooms around the world, empowering more than 200,000 children with an education, according to its website. Hundreds of communities have benefited from its water and sanitation projects, medical resources and alternative income programs.

Her second piece of advice: “You have to go on safari,” describing just being with the animals as “an incredibly spiritual experience.”