It sounds like Selena Gomez has been hanging out with her good friend Taylor Swift: this new LP is a sultry, polished album about love, loss and dating, packed with the sort of catchy lines that remind you of on-form Swift. “Breaking hearts like a heart attack,” sasses Gomez on Ring, a mischievous banger about ghosting queues of so-so suitors.
Not that this is an imitation game. Gomez’s own, assured voice rings out on this 13-track record that flirts with R&B and electro — and is mostly killer, very little filler. That’s because there’s very little self-indulgent mooning, usually a surefire characteristic on a break-up/dating/love album.
The record starts strong with the title track, Rare: a rebuke to a distant lover (“I know that I’m special”). Dance Again is a pulsing track about rising from the ashes of a crappy relationship (“It’s like I’m 10ft tall, high off the weight off my shoulders”), and disowning drama. Look at Her Now is all about being better off without the bad ones (“She dodged a bullet,” Gomez sings, tartly), while Cut You Off is a breezy break-up anthem that makes it all seem so easy.
Moody LYTLM (what?) and Crowded Room both drag a little, but mostly it’s back-to-back magic: pacy, irreverent pop to delight fans of Gomez (and Swift) alike.
Selena Gomez relationship retrospective
