Interesting sunset.
Photo: Roku Channel via YouTube
Since its municipal establishment in 2018, Roku City has been a metropolis intermittently besieged by mythical creatures including a kraken, a big robot, and a Godzilla-like kaiju. A new legendary being towers over the famous purple skyline: Demi Lovato. On a roof! The “Cool for the Summer” singer and Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017) star Jumanji‘d herself into the screensaver as the first-ever artist to headline “Live from Roku City.” Clicking an icon in the Roku main menu or on the screensaver takes viewers to a prerecorded, simulated “rooftop” concert, which opens with an animation of a hot-air balloon, suggesting that Lovato infiltrated the city via unclaimed airspace. She appears silhouetted by the beautiful Roku City skyline, there’s a wind machine blowing her hair to add to the rooftop illusion…
… And then she seems to give up on the concept entirely, as the giant digital-screen backdrop behind her fades into a solid magenta. For the whole six-minute concert, it looks like she’s performing in a void. There is no cartoon background and no cutaway shots of a lively and adoring Roku audience. She sounds great singing her new single, “Here All Night,” and a cover of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” but there is not a single Roku City–based Lovatic to be found in the pink void. This is highly concerning. Did she arrive by balloon, Wizard of Oz style, because she wasn’t actually invited to perform there? Was this rooftop supposed to be an underground thing, like Charli at the Lot Radio, only it was too underground and she couldn’t get the word out? Nor a matter of fact, has anyone ever seen a person besides Demi (and her two backup dancers) in Roku City? Its vibrant main street looks eerily empty.
In a behind-the-scenes featurette available to view after the concert, director Hannah Lux Davis says she worked to “set the stage for being on a rooftop of Roku City.” “You want to make Roku City come to life,” she says. “Seeing it big, and with a human in front of it, and human scale, has been so special. And then Demi!” At least we got “And then Demi!”
“I’m beyond excited to partner with Roku again to give the first taste of a live performance from my new music era,” Lovato said in an official statement, saying the performance represents the “electric energy” of her upcoming album, It’s Not That Deep. “I can’t wait to share that with everyone Live from Roku City.” Is “everyone” on the roof with us right now?
