Selena Gomez is Good For You

Now, THIS one I like!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia1iuXbEaYQ

(The album is out today.)

F%^&, this is a good track

Try "Dance Again.

I'm not digging that one as much.....

"Crowded Room" (feat. 6LACK) is nice. Her voice is so thin -- I think the more minimalist tracks suit it best, somehow.

I think I'm allergic to her sonic preferences ("Bad Liar" excepted)

not feeling this but it was prob the wrong move to listen to it after the poppy record

like Ariana Grande, she's taken with brevity, to my relief.

I am pretty into this

I'm taken with the way she and her producers use bass.

omg i'm excited, i was just talking about her this AM

I'm taken with the way she and her producers use bass.

Me too

"Fun" is also a kinda cool track. I feel like she goes in a for a lot of Swift-isms...

Nothing else on here comes close to the opening track for me (sadly)!

That calypso-ish beat just kills me

new album is really good!

really into Crowded Room

bottom heavy album for sure! i'm into it!

not enough explicit criticism of the male gaze for me tbh - while there's something despairing (and desperate) about the way she sings + the synth drone, it still seems all too besotted with phallocentricity of objectification

It's Selena Gomez ffs, not Huggy Bear.

gimme more phallocentricity with a side of objectification

The Target version of this CD tacks on “Bad Liar,” “Fetish,” “Wolves,” and a few others. It’s tempting...

Love this on first listen.

it's really very solid, if a little quaint. still, it's her signature. it works!

Found myself in Target with some extra $$, so... I’ve been listening to the CD as I drive around today. After the fantastic opening track, it’s pretty mediocre (IMO) until around track 9 or 10 — where it hits a good, final stretch. She’s such a limited vocalist; the best tracks find a way to take advantage of what she offers (in addition to just being good songs).

The Target CD is worth buying for the bonus tracks (FYI, it’s $11.99 on Target.com; they’ll price-match in store).

Just want to back up Johnny Fever who very early on praised “Lose You To Love Me” which sounds so incredible to me while playing through this as a whole. You were an early adopter and it is truly amazing.

kind of a martina topley-bird feel to this, maybe? track more than vocal

i was just going to ask how people rate "lose you to love me" now, several months later. admittedly i never really warmed to it.

It does nothing for me, I’m surprised it performed so well. Clearly I don’t have my finger on the pulse, lol

i was just going to ask how people rate "lose you to love me" now, several months later. admittedly i never really warmed to it.

― dyl, Sunday, January 12, 2020 1:52 AM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

still an extremely boring piano ballad propped up by an unconvincing fake narrative

Im kind of a sucker for this sort of a ballad. Anyway, didn't mean to start anything but sounds beautiful to me. Loving "Rare" and "Crowded Room" too.

Whoa - there’s a songwriter demo of “Rare” that sounds almost identical(?)

there usually are, the question is whether they ever become public

i like lose you to love me cuz i just went thru a breakup and i totally feel her sentiment

xp Does that mean the credited producers on the track also probably worked on the demo (for it to be so fully produced, with all the same sonic touches etc.)?

Wow! Just finishing up my first listen though this. Think there may have been a couple plodding pop-by-numbers kinda tracks in the middle, but the last few tracks are strong! Good record to start off the year with.

the last few tracks are strong! to the point where i start thinking i'm really getting into the album and then it's over lol

Yep! The singles are the weakest links imo

in today's country industry a large proportion of hits are written and produced entirely without the input of the artists that go on to record them... so it's quite common for demos submitted for consideration by artists/management/a&r to be essentially completed tracks w/ v high production values, all the bells 'n' whistles, etc, just w/o the artist's vocal. i remember reading an interview with a (non-artist) songwriter or producer about how that goes, and how the nearly-finished quality of such demos is almost considered necessary to stand out among all the other submissions.

i assume the situation is similar in pop as well, at least when it comes to pitching to artists who contribute little-to-nothing as songwriters (tho in some cases the recording artist will also end up getting credited as a songwriter even if the finished product doesn't differ at all from the demo besides the vocal)

xp

i was just going to ask how people rate "lose you to love me" now, several months later. admittedly i never really warmed to it.

― dyl, Sunday, January 12, 2020 1:52 AM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I love it

i am also pro-"lose you to love me" so i don't completely agree with alfred

xxp Thanks, dyl (Gomez does indeed have a songwriting credit on the track).

The production work on "Rare" is so fantastic, I think it deserves a breakdown (probably by someone better than me, but here goes):

0:00 - a little bongo trill fades in - the first thing you hear - telegraphing rhythmic elements that will reappear later
0:01 - that (acoustic?) bassline; that distant, muffled beat... the foundations of the track; love them both
0:18 - more of the rhythm comes in (bongos), but it's still not fully fleshed out
0:34 - the chorus hits, along with some additional background tones, and a more booming (but still subtle) bassline. And yet, the track's STILL not yet in full bloom, until...
0:51 - boom! the tinny trap-lite / calypso beat is in full effect - it's so lovely
1:08 - after the chorus, everything drops out, leaving just the acoustic bassline again
1:21 - echoing "ah-ahhs" and other backing vocal embellishments add to the mood
2:15 - great bridge... the song feels organic, each section flowing naturally from the previous one
2:42 - these ominous little background drones sound like they may have been inspired by Taylor Swife"Call It What You Want"(?)
3:38 - final bongo trill. fin.

The (excellent) guitar solo in 'Cut You Off,' I realized, reminds me of something from Haim's first album.

Is it just me or does anyone else think "Crowded Room" owes more than a bit to Cassie's "Me & U". Not a criticism.

lately i've taken to listening to "lose you to love me" on repeat and crying

Is it just me or does anyone else think "Crowded Room" owes more than a bit to Cassie's "Me & U". Not a criticism.

― daavid, Friday, January 17, 2020 9:28 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes i realized this on second listen of crowded room for sure

no thread for Rare on its own? Late pass but the deluxe version is gonna be top ten for sure for me.

I love the album

things i can pass on the deluxe album: lose you to love me, crowded room, sweeter place
things I love: everything else.

changemymind.jpg

This is my distilled / must-hear version of the deluxe album:

Rare
Crowded Room
Vulnerable
Ring
Cut You Off
Kinda Crazy
Fun

The new Saved by the Bell series apparently has some background graffiti saying “Does Selena Gomez even have kidneys?” — so the Selenators have got RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ trending

Just danced to "Rare" and "Ice Cream" in Just Dance 2021... pretty great

I like this but I feel like it's very Chappell Roan–influenced:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7QVdFVrrmE