FEATURE:
Revisiting…
Selena Gomez - Rare
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BECAUSE today (22nd July)…
PHOTO CREDIT: Micaiah Carter for allure
is the thirtieth birthday of the wonderful artist and actor Selena Gomez, I wanted to use this opportunity feature her most recent studio album in Revisiting… The superb Rare was released on 10th January, 2020. Although it got quite a few positive reviews, I don’t think, it got the full acclaim it deserves. With its tracks reserved to certain radio stations, Rare warrants wider listenership and acknowledgment. Coming five years after her second studio album, Revival, Rare was an album that was hugely anticipated. Even though (and as is quite common with a lot of Pop albums from mainstream artists) Rare boasts a lot of songwritrers and producers, the sheer wonder and force of Selena Gomez comes through. Her voice is very much at the center. Released just before the pandemic started, Gomez did not really have too much opportunity to tour the album. There were quite a few interesting interviews conducted around the release of Rare. I wanted to highlight one from NRP. In the interview, Gomez talked about, among other things, her public image and mental health:
“You've said this album is your diary from the past few years, and it does sound like it's a diary that was full of a lot of hurt. I want to talk about one of the songs, "Fun" — there are a couple on this album that reference your struggles with mental health. You've spoken about suffering from anxiety and depression, and you took a break in 2018 for your mental health. It sounds like you're doing a lot better now. How'd you get there?
I feel great, yeah. I'm on the proper medication that I need to be on, even as far as my mental health. I fully believe in just making sure you check in with your doctors or therapist. [Taking care of mental health — ] that's forever. That's something I will have to continue to work on. Yes, I don't think I just magically feel better. I have days where it is hard for me to get out of bed, or I have major anxiety attacks. All of that still happens. I think "Fun," in that particular way, was that I do like learning about it. When I was a kid, I was terrified of thunderstorms; it would freak me out. I was in Texas, so I would assumethat thunder and lightning would mean "tornado." And so my mom, she would give me these books — and they're the little thin books for kids to know about "What's rain?" and "What's this?" and she just said "The more you learn about it and how it works, the less you're going to be afraid of it." I think that took so much work for me.
But the way I find these moments in my life that are pretty difficult, I think the only way it's helped me is that I can use that for good. So yeah, I can sit down with somebody who's gone through a lot of health issues, I can sit down with someone who has had their heart completely broken, or a family that's broken, fighting for their right to stay in this country, or kids who are going through things they shouldn't even be worrying about at that age. I want to live in a world where an 11-year-old is not committing suicide because of bullying on social media. That's what I think my real mission is; I think that I have such big dreams and ideas for ways that I can give back. And right now I know that this is something that will be for life.
I want to go out on the song "Vulnerable," because to me the idea of staying vulnerable represents the ability to move forward. What does that song mean to you?
That means to me that vulnerability — and I've said this before — is a strength. And as I grew up in this chaotic space, I did have to learn how to be tough, and to be strong, but I'm not this hard person. And I have every right to be: From 7-years-old to 27, I've been working, and I've had the most horrible things said to me, said about me, and being exposed to way too much. One of my issues is that I always felt like I was this weak person because I would cry, or I would get emotional, or I hated when people were rude. I just started getting to the place, definitely a few years ago, where I understood that vulnerability is actually such a strength. I shine the most within when I'm sharing my story with someone, or when I'm there for a friend, or when I do meet someone, I'm not bitter and sarcastic — I mean sometimes I am, but I'm proud that I'm okay with speaking about my heart. And the whole song is saying "Hey if I give this to you, If I give myself to you, are you strong enough to be there for me?" If not, I'll let go of the situation but I'm still going to be vulnerable to what's next”.
A number one album in the U.S., Rare was a big commercial success. Gomez co-wrote all thirteen tracks on the album, and you can hear her lyrical voice come through. A sophisticated, memorable, and uplifting Pop album, Rare is one that more people should investigate. This is what AllMusic wrote in their review:
“The big news for Selena Gomez before the release of her sixth album, Rare, is that she finally had a number one single after years of getting close. The introspective and emotionally raw ballad "Lose You to Love Me" surrounded Gomez's aching vocals with sparse piano, swirling strings, and lush background vocals, and connected instantly with her fans and anyone who ever had to ditch someone in order to save themselves. That song, and the record it appears on, mark something of a turning point in her career. Where in the past she focused mostly on breezy sentiments, playful frothy pop, and more recently sexy come-ons, now she's digging deeper and mining her own life and loves for subject matter in more obvious and revealing ways. It may not be totally confessional -- and each song is helped to the finish line by teams of professional songwriters -- but within the realm of mainstream modern pop, Rare is surprisingly honest lyrically and Gomez sounds more open and invested in the songs than ever before.
Lyrically they range from stripped bare ("Lose You," "Vulnerable") to empowered (the title track, "Look at Her Now") with stops along the way at freedom (the sparkly, French disco-inspired "Dance Again"), realization ("Kinda Crazy"), and slyly moving on ("Fun"). The team pair the words with hooky choruses that are easy to imagine being sung along with really loud and some sure-handed production that's never boring and strays happily into odd territory now and again -- the junky drum sound on "Rare," "Look at Her Now"'s chopped-up vocals, the computer-tweaked vocals of "People You Know," and the wobbly synths and arrangements of "A Sweeter Place" crafted by Kid Cudi. Gomez's albums work best when they don't chase trends, or do obvious things, and there is precious little of that here; only the very "Havana"-esque "Ring" falls victim to that particular problem. It's highly unlikely that Gomez will ever venture to the cutting edge of pop, but Rare proves that when she has strong songs and the producers get a little weird, she's just enough outside the mainstream to sound fresh. Add in some deeply felt and real emotion like she does here, and it verges on being something special, maybe her best record yet. If it isn't that, it's at least her most interesting one yet, and that's something fans of the homogenized pop scene of the era should celebrate”.
Before wrapping things up, there is another positive review that warrants highlighting. Entertainment Weekly went deep with an album that I feel was not given enough love by some critics. If you have not heard it, then I would recommend you spend some time with Rare:
“How could Selena Gomez not be tired? She was, until recently, the most followed human on Instagram; an ambassador for UNICEF, Pantene, Coca-Cola, Coach, and Louis Vuitton; an actress appearing regularly in indie films and animated franchises alike; paramour to equally famous men — Justin Bieber, the Weeknd —and source, over the past decade-plus, of six studio albums, numerous collaborations, and some two dozen gold and platinum singles.
So when the singer canceled extended tour legs in 2014 and 2016, pleading exhaustion and ill health, it felt like a breach of the modern celebrity contract: Show up, share everything. (She shared a lot, eventually; it turned out she suffered from anxiety and depression brought on by the autoimmune disease lupus, for which she also underwent a kidney transplant.)
Now 27 and apparently in a steadier place, the Texas native has settled into the role of Relatable Superstar —exuding a calculated but somehow still tender vulnerability with every goofy spaghetti selfie and real-talk radio interview. For Rare’s lead single, she chose “Lose You to Love Me,” a sparse, striking piano ballad that seemed to explicitly call out her ex, Bieber, for crimes against Selena-nity; it also became her first to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Nearly every song here spells out some lesson in self-love and acceptance, triumph over hardship and haters, and the harsh critic within — from the loping title track’s plea for a partner’s consideration (“I’m not getting enough from you/ Didn’t you know I’m hard to find?”) to the lite–Daft Punk funk of “Dance Again” (“All the drama’s in remission/I don’t need permission to dance again”) and airy-urgent “Let Me Get Me” (“No self-sabotage, no letting my thoughts run/Me and this spiral are done”). There’s even a sweet little slab of whisper-disco literally called “Vulnerable,” in which the line “I stay vulnerable” loops and shimmers like a strobe-lit mantra — earnest bathroom-mirror affirmations shot through an Ibiza glitter cannon.
There’s a different kind of playful defiance in the syncopated strut of tracks like “Ring” and the sinuous kiss-off “Kinda Crazy” and the nonsense chorus of “mm-mmmmmms” in “Look at Her Now,” which works like a sort of giddy hypnosis, repeating until it becomes the pure sound of post-breakup freedom. For all its heavy messaging, lightness actually feels like the album’s hallmark: an anti-weighted blanket of breathy vocals and zero-gravity synths that consistently float above pop’s sonic slipstream. A varsity-squad production team, including various Max Martin-affiliated Swedes and the ace songwriting duo of Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels, bring their considerable contributions — though their job, of course, is to make Gomez sound like nothing less than her own woman: a girl interrupted but now returned, in Rare form. B+”.
I don’t think you need to be a fan of Pop or even be familiar with Selena Gomez’s previous work to understand and connect with Rare. One of 2020’s best albums, it is one that I missed at the time. I have been listening lately and really getting something from it. A tremendous actor, I think Gomez brings those disciplines, emotions, and skills into her music (and vice versa). If Rare is a new album to you, then I would urge you to…
PLAY it today.