Demi Lovato + Her Blue Fishtail Braid Cover Teen Vogue

Demi Lovato covers the November issue of Teen Vogue, with a blue, fishtail braid. Most of her spread features the usually high style Lovato in country/prairie girl mode, all the while remaining fashion forward.

Lovato rocks frontierswoman fashion with full, long skirts, floral patterns and unfussy hair, pulled out of her face. Again, she remains modern and edgy by having a fishtail braid with bold blue coloring, not something you'd find in nature and in the 1850s.

She still looks as beautiful as ever.

The new 'X Factor' judge sounded off about working alongside Britney Spears, revealing that the girls are sticking together and forging a bond. Lovato said, "She's incredible. She's such an icon that I didn't know what to expect, but I was excited to find out that she's really sweet and funny and quirky. We have so much fun. We're the two girls on the show, so we're always laughing together, and we kind of have each other's backs."

She also defended her age – she's 20 -- which was criticized as being too young to mentor contestants. But Lovato has been working longer than people twice her age, and she has a lot to offer, since her breadth of experience is so vast. Her age belies her experience, that's for sure.

"There's so much more to it than just being a talented singer," she said about the competition. "I'm going to help them mentally prepare for everything that's coming — like, all these things that have happened to me recently, I really attribute them, in part, to the work that I've been doing on myself. The second that I became more centered and aware of who I am, my performances got better, and I was better able to relate to people. For a long time, I was pretending to be someone that I wasn't, and I was miserable. When I came out and said, 'I'm human, I've got problems, but I'm willing to share them,' that's when I started to really connect."

The 'Skyscraper' singer also confirmed that work has commenced on the follow up to 'Unbroken,' and that she is "tired of songs that don't have much emotion in them."

Lovato also shared her secrets to remaining strong and avoiding any sort of relapse into treatment. "I sleep, eat right, exercise, and meditate," she admitted. "And even when I'm filming or touring, I keep up my daily routine. I know that I can't miss my therapy appointments or things will get a little rocky, so I always put my recovery first."

When she is not shooting, touring or recording, she is with friends and family. "I did kind of a friend cleanse right after rehab, where I weeded out people who didn't have my best interests at heart," she said in what feels a bit like therapy-speak.

Still, the hangers on are no more. Lovato finished, "Now, I have friends who love me for who I am and don't care about what I'm doing. Most of them aren't in the industry. Some of them don't even know my songs!"

And about those pesky rumors about her and One Direction cutie Niall Horan? "He's a really awesome, sweet guy. But he's not my boyfriend," she said.

Sorry to disappoint, all you fans rooting for a Demi/Niall pairing, even though it's impossible to make a portmanteau out of their names. Demiall? Lovan? It's hard!

"I'm in a place right now where I really need to focus on myself," she confessed. "Obviously, I'm still going to like people — or love them — but I need to not be in a relationship for a while because I need to be okay with being alone, first. I'm really happy right now. I never thought it was possible to be happy because of how depressed I was my entire life. But I feel so incredible. It's like I'm living in a dream."

If Demi's happy, we're happy. She and Niall Horan can become an item when she's ready. Just sayin'.

Watch the Demi Lovato 'Skyscraper' Video