Demi Lovatos Tell-All Comeback

Emily Berl for The New York Times

Demi Lovatos candidness about her career-stopping problems, including a stint in rehab, has helped propel her back into the spotlight. Here, she sings at a store opening in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES On a recent sunny afternoon, Demi Lovato emerged from a black tractor-size SUV and made her way onto a stage set up at the Grove, an upscale outdoor mall here, where she was to perform at the opening of a new Topshop. As screaming Lovatics (as Ms. Lovatos fans proclaim themselves) flashed iPhones and waved Magic Marker signs at the pop star, she looked a little sheepish. This was understandable: her right foot was encased in a black silver-studded cast that resembled a giant ski boot.

But as Ms. Lovato hobbled over to the microphone, dressed in a biker jacket and tight black pants, she overcame the awkwardness, her dark-painted lips breaking into a dazzling smile.

Im feeling great, she yelled to the crowd, gamely kicking her injured foot into the air before launching into her chart-topping song Give Your Heart a Break. Im ready to rock!

Embracing unairbrushed moments has become a defining characteristic ! of Ms. Lovato, 20, one that has helped propel her back into the spotlight after a sudden fall from grace (in late 2010, she entered rehab for issues related to an eating disorder and cutting) that brought her career, which accelerated on the Disney Channel, to a halt.

Rather than adhere to the Hollywood playbook of dismissing or softening the facts, Ms. Lovato has openly aired her troubles, tweeting to her 12 million fans about how she spent New Years Eve in rehab, and talking to Katie Couric about feeling fat while still in diapers.

Instead of tarnishing her image, these candid revelations seem to have bolstered her. She is in negotiations to return as a judge for the next season of the Fox reality singing show The X Factor. She was arguably the breakout star of the show last winter. And her new song, Heart Attack, was No. 1 on iTunes its first week of release. Some critics compare her to the reality-show hall-of-famer Kelly Clarkson.

Ms. Lovatos second act stands in vivid contrast to that of Miley Cyrus, Ms. Lovatos direct predecessor in the Disney ranks. Ms. Cyruss transition from teen queen to adult star was marred by a steady drip, drip of scandalous revelations and a near-nude photo spread in Vanity Fair, which left many of her fans feeling alienated and confused; her record sales plummeted.

Ms. Lovatos approach has proved far savvier, as was her decision to use X Factor, which last season averaged eight million viewers, as a comeback vehicle. Nowhere did she seem more authentic, as her handlers like to say, than on that show, emerging as a lively, relatable judge who was far more at ease than her fellow panelist Britney Spears. While Ms. Spears offered terse, generic-sounding critiques to contestants and appeared to be in a state of quiet distress throughout the season (she is not returning), Ms. Lovato was a nurturing den mother, at one point walking on stage to console a crying si! nger, Jil! lian Jensen, who said she had been bullied at school. (Ms. Lovato attributes her own struggles to being bullied when she was 12.)

When I read about her story and the problems she had, how shed overcome them and how she spoke openly about them, I was very impressed, said Simon Cowell, the creator of X Factor and its alpha judge, in a phone interview. I just thought, heres a girl whos been through a lot, whos experienced a lot, is very confident, has this fanatical following, and I thought it was important for the show that someone represented that audience.

X Factor also allowed Ms. Lovato to cultivate her image as a fashion idol with Gwen Stefani and Joan Jett leanings: bright pink bangs, winged eyeliner and lots of leather jackets to go with her multiple tattoos. Virtually all of her looks were supplied by Topshop, for whom Ms. Lovato has become an unofficial spokeswoman ever since she bonded with the chains owner, Sir Philip Green, while shopping in the stores London flagship last year.

We walked around the store chitchatting, Sir Philip said on the phone. I thought she was a sweetie.