Demi Lovato Says New Single 'Anyone' Reveals a 'Cry for Help'

Demi Lovato's new single -- which she'll debut at the Grammys -- will reveal what she was going through before suffering an overdose ... but she says it's only a fraction of her story.

Demi opened up about the meaning of the song, called "Anyone," to Apple Music's Zane Lowe. The singer tells Lowe the reason it's so special is because listening back to it ... she realized it was a "cry for help."

We broke the story ... Lovato wrote and recorded the song just 4 days before she OD'd in July 2018, and vowed during her recovery to perform it first if she ever got another chance.

Lovato says she's surprised people close to her who were familiar with "Anyone" didn't also see that something was wrong and try to get her some help.

To be fair, though, Demi concedes her state of mind at the time was that everything was okay and she was in control ... which was clearly not the case in hindsight.

Demi says "Anyone" shows how she was really feeling at the time, even if she couldn't admit it, and it ended up being a case of life imitating art.

Fortunately, things have turned around for Demi since then, and she's getting that chance to perform "Anyone" on a big stage.

Sounds like she has every intention of making it count.