"Sexy Dirty Love" was written by Demi Lovato, Warren "Oak" Felder, Trevor Brown and William Zaire Simmons for Lovato's sixth studio album, Tell Me You Love Me. The production was handled by Oak with co-production by "Downtown" Trevor Brown and Zaire Koalo. The track was recorded with guidance by Oak in SuCasa Recording, located in Los Angeles. Keith "Daquan" Sorrells assisted the engineering. Erik Madrid mixed the track, assisted by Alex Spencer. The mastering was done by Chris Gehringer and Will Quinnell at Sterling Sound Studios. All three co-writers also provided background vocals. Felder also performed the keyboards and also did the arrangement. Felder and Brown programmed the synthesizers, while Koalo programmed the drums.[2]
In an interview with NPR, Lovato revealed who she was writing the song for:
I was writing this song for somebody that I was really interested in — somebody that I had been talking to, that I had a crush on. And, you know, when you go into the studio, you feel very inspired by the things that are happening in your daily life and this was where I was at. I was feeling confident, feeling sexy and I wanted to write a song about it.[3]
Release
The track was released as the third promotional single from Tell Me You Love Me on September 22, 2017.[1] The song sold 8,486 copies in the US in its first week of release.[4]
Composition
Exhibiting influences from 1980s and 1990s musical styles, "Sexy Dirty Love" is a "funky" nu-disco track that has an uptempo danceable rhythm[5][6] and contains elements of "old-school" R&B and electro genres.[7] Due to its sonority, Mike Wass from Idolator associated the track with Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds album. The reviewer also pointed out that the song "feels like a bolder, more adventurous take on 'Sorry Not Sorry'".[7] Lyrically, it narrates a thoroughly modern romantic encounter initiated via web with Lovato singing about fantasy through the phone in the first verse.[5][8] According to Lovato, the song is about the beginning of a relationship where everything is sexy and exciting.[9]
Lovato's vocals span from E3 - G#5 with an E6 exclamation.[citation needed]
