"all her girls out there who need to remind guys that they messed up". In the same interview, she said that it is different from her usual pop rock sound: I love this song for many reasons. It had a different sound than a lot of my songs. I related to it personally more than other songs, and I have so much fun with it. I thought if it could be a single that it would be incredible to perform it all the time ... What stands out about the song [is that] I can dance to it and rock out to it, which is ultimately my goal. I was just so excited when I heard this one, 'cause it's the epitome of where I want to go with the future. Composition and lyrical interpretation "Remember December" is a 1980s-inspired power pop song with influences of synth-pop and pop rock. Patrick Varine of The Observer-Dispatch noted "a bit of techno", and Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music referred the verses to as "moody synth-pop". Critics made comparisons with works by rock bands Paramore and The Veronicas. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Walt Disney Music Publishing, "Remember December" is composed in the time signature of common time, with a moderate beat rate of 112 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of F minor and Lovato's vocal range spans from the low note of E4 to the high note of F5. It has a basic sequence of F5–A5–D5 as its chord progression. The song begins with Lovato singing "I feel a separation coming on, Cos I know, you want to be moving on." Lyrically, the song sees the protagonist reminisce about a winter romance, with lines such as, "I remember us together / We promised that forever." Los Angeles Times critic Margaret Wappler deemed it an "ode to breakups" and noted that the protagonist asks her willful boyfriend to remember "the good times" of their relationship. In the chorus, she sings "Don't surrender, surrender, surrender", before asking him to remember their "promise of forever". Lovato explained that the song is about "a girl [who] has so much to say to the guy, and it feels like he's not listening, and she wants him to remember everything that they had". Release and reception "Remember December" was released as the second and final single from Here We Go