With the start of her first headlining tour less than three weeks away, Demi Lovato is preparing a show that she hopes will focus on songs rather than spectacle.

"I'm not really one to have a lot of, like, crazy stuff on stage," the  16-year-old Disney singer and actress, whose nine-week trek kicks off June 21 in Hartford, Conn., with Season 7 "American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta opening, tells Billboard.com. "I feel like it's more about the music, so I don't want to take away from that."
 
Lovato will be playing primarily songs from her 2008 debut, "Don't Forget" -- including the title track, which is her latest single -- and she's planning on at least one cover song. "I'm thinking about either going really nice, '80s rock, or maybe soulful, like Aretha (Franklin)," she reports.

She'll also be playing some songs from her as-yet-untitled sophomore album, which is scheduled to come out in July. Lovato says the disc, produced primarily by John Fields, is finished, and is "a lot more soulful and personal" than its predecessor.

"I think 'Don't Forget' was a lot more Jonas sounding," says the 16-year-old Disney songstress and actress, who co-wrote much of that disc with the Jonas Brothers. "It had a little more of their feel on it. But this album is just me."

Lovato co-write one of the new songs, "Can't Stop the World," with Nick Jonas. Other collaborators this time include John Mayer on two tracks, "World of Chances" and "Shut Up and Love Me," singer-songwriter Jon McLaughlin and The Academy Is... frontman William Beckett, who teamed with Lovatto on "For the Love of a Daughter," which is about her relationship with her father after her parents' 1994 divorce.

"I felt a little more confident this time, but I also felt like it was a little more pressure," Lovato says. "I feel like, for me, this is definitely a step forward. I was really, really nervous making the album, but I feel like it's come together. I'm really, really, really excited about it."