The harsh reality of Selena Gomez’s career is that she’s never quite managed to establish herself as a dominant industry juggernaut. She doesn’t have the cultist fan base of a Beyonce, or the discography to justify a glamourise disappearing act like an Adele, and that seldom success is in no small part due to the absence of her personality. Her latest EP ‘Revelación’ sees the industry vagabond attempting to change that narrative by dabbling with her Hispanic heritage and feeding into the mainstream’s obsession with Latin pop, only to fail miserably. The EP is not so much an unapologetic exploration of her identity as it is a flaccid attempt to latch onto fads by doing whatever she possibly can to keep her name in conversation.
Gomez is but the latest figure to have caught eyes for the surging virality of reggaeton, and whilst she most certainly won’t be the last, ‘Revelación’ feels like the crooner writing the handbook on what not to do. The EP’s lead single ‘De Una Vez’ set the inevitably low benchmark for ‘Revelación’ from miles away. With its heavy-handed groove and an unenthusiastic vocal performance that’d fit right at home on her previous release ‘Rare’, its demise was written in the stars. It sounds like Latin pop designed by someone that had never actually heard the genre before, and only read of it.
‘Revelación’ is Latin pop trademarked with Gomez’s gutless brand of all things family-friendly. Her knack for squeezing anything remotely interesting down into an overly-accessible pulp is just as relevant here than on any number of her previous releases. Look no further than ‘Buscando Amor’ to catch just a glimpse of Gomez’s vocal plasticity. I struggle to differentiate her blank-canvas delivery from one of Lele Pons’ half-assed ploys to create a credible career. Gomez jumps from one extreme to another on ‘Selfish Love’. Whilst the former has the stark star making singing look like a chore, the latter sounds like begrudged whispers provoked from sheer boredom.
If there’s one thing Gomez gets horribly wrong on ‘Revelación’, it’s the production. Even if it were possible to look past just how frequently Gomez plagiarised herself, the EP would still be among the worst offenders of this mass genre assassination. On ‘Vicio’ the violent crackles of overproduced percussion hit like a neverending barrage of stab wounds. Gomez’s instrumental flaws are just as prevalent in her attempts to impress on some of the more reserved cuts from the EP. ‘Baila Conmigo’ and ‘Adiós’ spring to mind as tracks that are supposedly sweet as honey, but after repeated listens the shapelessness of sloshing drums and barely recognisable guitars only accelerate the process of ear decay. It’s not so much an infectious calling to dance as it is a sinister demand where my limbs are hoisted against my will as if I were a voodoo doll.
Frozen like a deer in the headlights, Gomez struggles to carry the brunt of weight induced by her stepping outside of her comfort zone. Even when the silent prayers of ‘Revelación’ are answered and Gomez is aided by a peer, things tend to go awry. Selena and Rauw Alejandro are a match made in hell on ‘Baila Conmigo’ as the duo forfeits nuanced ideas of love in favour of feeding into a non-existent dance craze. Think Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ meets Drake’s ‘Toosie Slide’, but somehow even more boring. Similarly, Myke Towers breaks the monotony of ‘Dámelo To’’ only to stick out like a sore thumb with his grating exaggeration. But it all pales in comparison to the shameless commercial crossover between Gomez and DJ Snake on ‘Selfish Love’ which sounds like every Selena Gomez song ever paired with more meaningly lovestruck confessions.
The only real redeeming quality of ‘Revelación’ is that Gomez is at times so inoffensive, the blasé nature of the EP churns out the odd performance that gives an impression of competence. ‘Adiós’ is easily Gomez’s shining moment – with her angelic vibrato and rich tone it’s the most recognisable she’s sounded in a long time. By that same measure, ‘De Una Vez’ is fractionally more passionate than the rest of its samey-sounding competition, even if it’s only a case of being the best of a bad bunch. In retrospect, it’s a small consolation prize considering ‘Revelación’ asks that you commit 19 minutes of your time to an EP that shows nothing to justify its reasons for passing its shelf life.
A change of scenery was on the cards for Gomez, but ‘Revelación’ is far from the career revitalisation she so desperately needed. I certainly appreciate the idea in theory, but in execution Gomez effectively finds new avenues to paint herself into a one-dimensional corner. The EP reeks of artificial manufacturing, as Gomez’s attempt to cross-over into the world of reggaeton drags all of her commercial-dependent tricks and non-descript flaws with it. ‘Revelación’ is tailor-made to suck from the teat of oversaturated trends, and does so until the well runs dry. Don’t be fooled by the name associated with it, you’ve heard ‘Revelación’ done a million times before and executed a million times better.
Revelación – EP – Selena Gomez – 3/10
About Author
