For the latest episode of The Thrive Global Podcast with iHeartRadio, Arianna Huffington sits down with Grammy-nominated, singer/songwriter and activist Demi Lovato. The two have a wide-ranging conversation on everything from life in the spotlight and social media to mental illness and religion.

When Huffington asked Lovato about the challenges of dating in the spotlight, Lovato said it doesn’t stop her from putting herself out there.

“I think that when you find something that’s very special to you, don’t deny yourself the opportunity,” Lovato said. “But it is important to remember that you are young and you have a lot of life ahead of you. So, with that in mind, make your future decisions, choose them wisely.”

When Huffington asked if creating her latest album while single made it different, Lovato said yes.

“I was more focused, less distracted,” she said. “And whenever I had downtime, instead of going off and being with my boyfriend or doing anything like that, I would go to the studio, and so I had all this extra time in the studio that great things came out of.”

And those many great things turned into Lovato’s sixth studio album, Tell Me You Love Me, which recently debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart.

“I want my songs to give people things to think about, and I want them to be able to relate to my music,” Lovato said. “When I write a song like Daddy Issues, which is a song about the relationship that I have with my birth father, having that abandonment, those abandonment issues from when I was a kid to how it affects the relationships that I have in my life today, I know that there are people out there that can relate to that. And I kind of put a fun, cheeky twist on it, like it’s not too serious and not too emotional. It’s kind of playful, but you know, it’s definitely a song that I think you have to be able to have gone through it to relate to it, and it kind of makes that issue not so serious, which is kind of relieving.” 

To hear the full conversation, click here.

You can also listen to the Thrive Global podcast internationally for free on iTunes and Stitcher.