The third studio album, Rare, from artist Selena Gomez, is one that sees a change of pace as she infuses several elements of the dance-pop genre and at times, Latin flavor, to indicate her passing and moving on from late stages of past relationships. Prior to this release, Selena has always had her figure shrouded in the media, largely in regards to the status of her personal life and connections with other artists in the industry, so an album of this nature feels like the appropriate sign and best medium for her to truly address and output everything and anything to give her music life.
The album’s opening track “Rare” feels like a strangely weak introductory track to an album that seems to address Selena’s past mix-ups in the public eye. The mix on the production sounds unpolished, as the production during the verses sees the percussive elements muffled, missing any sense of crisp and directory maintaining in regards to creating a foundation. Selena’s vocals on the track feel forced here, with a nondescript nature to them. She lacks character, and for a track that’s lyrical content is concerned with being special and rare, she ends up sounding like a million other artists. Whilst this empowerment anthem sees Selena take pride and confidence in herself and seek for such qualities in a partner, the track feels like it comes from origins that feel utterly lifeless and uninspired. In regards to both production and vocal performance Selena sounds as if she’s incapable of evoking such a unique or powerful sound on a track that demands audiences to delve into the realisation of Selena being a “rare” occurrence.
“Dance Again” is the first track to demonstrate the strong dance appeal that appears throughout the album. The song is built upon a thick twang that is a funky bass that drives the inescapable funk of the record. Selena on this track simultaneously shows her unfortunate reliance on vocal effects on the track, as multiple times throughout the album are synth effects unnecessarily and sloppily added to her vocals. This ultimately removes character and any full tone she had on her own and instead is the culprit of many an annoying sound that can be heard. Whilst the pure dance track is swamped in a rich bass that sustains a fantastic groove, Selena seemingly gets lost amongst the production and fails to have any true vocal presence on the track.
Following the trend of dance tracks comes the third song on the album, “Look At Her Now”. This track is the utter low point of the album as it is so devoid of any sense of character or creative input. Not only is Selena drenched in vocal effects to completely remove any sense of character or flavour in her vocals, but what is left over is an insipid sound that grows tiresome and irritating as soon as it is introduced. The chorus is so devoid of anything, as vocally, Selena is simply not a presence, matched with lyrics that largely consist of “Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm”. Production-wise, the song continues to hinder itself from gaining any character, as what is there is so uninspired and simply manufactured to service an ever-expanding demand for quantity of music. This is the height of a sound that is artificial in nature as Selena as an artist feels so far removed from every aspect of the song. In many ways, it feels like a song birthed from years and years of analytically pinpointing successful trends in Pop music and jamming them into one catastrophe of a track.
“Lose You To Love Me” is set up as a powerful track that finds its energy in its own subtle understatement and is perhaps the most shallow song on the album. Vocally, Selena has no emotion or vocal power on the track, in a sense, this is very much reminiscent of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song”, which has intentions of being an empowerment track, but houses vocals that not only fail to inspire or rally listeners, but has its performers sounding more uninspired than ever. The production is watered down to a majority of the track being withered piano chords, so much so that they too fail to evoke any feeling or craft any memorable sound. The track manages to reach a climax on the back end of the track with background vocals that sound intense and grandiose, building a true sense of supreme empowerment, however, this is just one portion of a track that feels as if Selena has made with the intent of being deceitfully inspiring. What’s more to add to the commercial veil of the track, is the obvious inspiration from long-time ex Justin Bieber. At the time of the release of the track, the two’s public warfare was long dissolved, if anything the tracks further accentuates Selena’s corporate phoniness as she plays into petty marketing tactics and fiddles with deceased controversy.
The track ‘Ring’ is a much-needed breath of fresh air as Selena incorporates a touch of Spanish inspired groove in the production. Similar in vein to recent success such as Camilla Cabello’s “Havana”, Selena utilises elements from Latina pop to create a smooth, slick dance rhythm that has an undeniable coolness to it. The addition of string instruments brings a level of depth to the instrumentation as they ascend and descend with each introduction the track only gets smoother and more sensual. This is the most in-touch Selena has sounded in terms of complementing the production throughout the album, as her vocal performance, which is somewhat swung, fits perfectly into the smooth, laid back, Spanish derived jam. This almost adheres to a rule, inspiring that the less she tries the better she sounds, as her laid back performance only serves as an invigorating level of sensual performance. Selena feels in touch with a sound that is evidently influenced by ethnic background. In this case, the less the brain works and the more the body works, the better the track gets.
Selena deploys several different vocal styles throughout the run time of the album, and on the track “Vulnerable” she approaches the track in a breathy tone. This is contrasted in the pre-chorus section in regards to dynamic, but the underlying issue lies within her bland voice. Selena’s vocal presence goes in one ear and out there other on this track. In an attempt to craft a mood through contrast, Selena creates a track that trips over its own confusion. The track features a largely instrumental bridge, yet this track doesn’t have any of the pleasant, dance prone qualities that were seen in other tracks. Lyrically, Selena has made this song time and time again, as at its core the song could ultimately be summed up by the title. Selena’s interpretation of a vulnerability is nothing of note as this is some of the most lifeless and forgettable lyrics across her catalogue.
Selena then trades natural blandness for artificial substitution on the track “People You Know”. A recurring theme on the album is Selena’s overreliance on synth assistance in regard to her vocal performance. On this track it fails to add anything of value and removes any natural edge or sense of projection Selena would normally bring to a track. With the exception of the pre-chorus section, the production is so heavily stripped back that Selena is left almost solely in the spotlight. Left with only a loose shell of the performer she is in the instance, as her synth-heavy vocals fail to leave any lasting taste. When Selena isn’t reminiscing of past connections, a subject that seems to be one of a limited selection throughout the album, she again reverts to a devolved form of language, this time repeating “Dum-dum-dum, da-da-dum-dum-dum”, this is where she allows herself to be a host body for a near-complete, computer-generated form of music, as there isn’t an ounce of character left in this song.
On the track “Kinda Crazy” Selena reverts again to adopting her breathy airy vocals to establish a tone that seemingly crafts the storyline of the track. Her sound speaks volumes to the inquisitive nature of her being and position in the song as she is wary of the crazy behaviour of a lover of hers. The tonal decision by Selena causes audiences to put themselves in her position as she manages to set the tone perfectly. The tracks highlight is found within the production, with the introduction of a subtle trumpet melody which sounds as if it were defeated, in this instance, the trumpet it the truest representation of the emotion Selena attempts to achieve here. The rest of the production with the slick guitar and her vocal refrains create a very ethereal and transcendent sound on the track. This plays further into the narrative as perhaps Selena’s distant-sounding vocals come from a place of distance from her lover.
Selena continues her saga of addressing past relationships on the track “Cut You Off”, as she describes moving on from a boy who is clearly no good for her. This in many ways sounds much like Selena adopting the vocal techniques and style of a million different pop divas that have seen success within recent memory. She sounds like every other charting artist, yet simultaneously nothing. Selena in regard to vocal performance feels confused with who she is, as she extracts every positive quality from widely shared effects to craft a sound that is so lackluster and deprived of any meaning. She again relies on vocal gimmicks that include the breakdown of language for her “oo ooo ooo ooo’s” which sound like a poor imitation of an element Taylor Swift would associate with. Production-wise the track never truly manages to take off, the percussion and bass feel to clumsily added in, adding nothing in the way of value or musical interest. Even more confusing are the clumsily added submarine radar-like noises that stain the song from start to finish, as well as the lazily included guitar solo, which is so out of place with the rest of the song. What lyrical value there ever was to begin with gets lost amongst the astonishingly lazy and clumsy instrumental layers.
The conclusive track of the album, “A Sweeter Place” sees Selena at an element out of her comfort zone. The sinister sounding production that is swamped out in dark synths and spacey production stylistically seems to favour the guest artist on the track, Kid Cudi. In amongst the warping and harsh synth noises that constantly conflict with the glossy piano chords, beautiful distortion is crafted, a sound Kid Cudi fits all too well into. His inclusion accentuates the true eerie and bone chilling nature of the song and the dark tones associated with escaping reality in order to find a sweeter place. Selena’s involvement in her own song feels like an act and a thinly veiled one at that too. Even with her sound being drenched in vocal effects, which are so poorly mixed and mastered, to the point where her vocal layers dominate her own voice, she still feels so out of place. Unwelcome on the conclusive track of her long awaited album, the song belongs to and was crafted with Kid Cudi in mind. The two also have a complete fumble of chemistry on the track, this is attributed more to the point of Selena sounding more like a sample on her own song, as she fails to adapt to the tonal change up that champions Kid Cudi.
Rare doesn’t sit well being deemed a Selena Gomez album, but rather strikes well being marketed as an album of experimental instrumentals. What is on show is ultimately the talent of the culminated efforts of pop producers behind the force of brand power. Track after track Selena fails to stand out, not just as a performer in her own right, but amongst the production. Even more credit to the notion of Selena’s wasteful name power is the lack of actual Selena that can be heard. To supplement the performers lack of character, charisma and unique vocal presence, her sound is dominated by vocal effects and synth assistance, that they don’t allow her to even leave a lasting splash on her songs. Outside the strictly musical concerns of the record, it is the amount of Selena’s personal life that manages to make its way onto each song. Yes, this is something globally celebrated and done by artists, but in no other case is the artist completely confined to, and as such defined by the trials and tribulations of failed love with other artists in the public eye quite like Selena. What becomes overwhelming obvious throughout the record is her self-compensation for a lack of character, being made up for in her connections and relations to those with perhaps too much. Whilst Selena is complemented by and handed the tools to craft an album that would truly stand out amongst her discography, she renders herself to the remains of past love, and fails to live up to expectations vocally, that are established by the behind the scenes collaborators.
Selena Gomez – Rare – 4/10
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