Demi Lovato‘s fiancé Jutes is reflecting on a relationship milestone.

During an appearance on The Viall Files on Thursday, Oct. 10, Jutes spoke about when he asked fellow musician Lovato, 32, to marry him in 2023.

“I wrote a song,” said Jutes, 33, of the pre-engagement preparation for Lovato, who uses she/they pronouns. “I’m not a guitar player, but I can kind of play some chords. So it took me like, a week, just to write the chords for this song. And then I wrote a song, and then I practiced it.”

“Again, I’m not a guitar player, so rehearsing this song ends in ‘Will you marry me?’ was really difficult,” the songwriter added. “I would mess up like three out of four times, so I was like when it comes time to do this like I just got to get lucky and just nail it.”

“I definitely almost broke down crying a few times,” Jutes, whose real name is Jordan Lutes, admitted.

To make the big ask, Jutes said that asked Lovato’s team to “set up some stuff and distract her” before he performed, hoping to completely catch her when she wasn’t expecting a proposal. When it came time to propose, Jutes said he was “confident” she would say yes.

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“I knew that she wasn’t expecting it when I did it and that’s why I did it then … I wanted to catch her off guard,” he clarified. “I mean, obviously, we had mentioned like you know wanting to be married and stuff like that.”

Lovato and Jutes met in January 2022 when they co-wrote the Disney Channel alum’s song “Substance” and collaborated on her album Holy Fvck.

The musicians went public with their relationship in August 2022 and made their red carpet debut in February 2023. In December 2023, Jutes proposed to Lovato in Los Angeles with a stunning pear-shaped diamond.

Lovato previously told PEOPLE in September about how supportive of a partner Jutes is.

“You know, I’ve waited my whole life for him and to have him be a part of this just makes it that much more sweet,” Lovato said at the time.

“It’s very grounding to have a partner that is so supportive, so loving, so caring,” Lovato added. “And so, you know, it’s very easy to stay centered with him because I just — I love him so much and he treats me so amazing.”