More than likely aware of a lack of much competition in the musical realm when January hits, Selena Gomez’s management and publicity team surely had a strategy in mind when they looked at the calendar and saw that the only major albums worth listening to in the first month of a new decade are Alexandra Savior’s, Pet Shop Boys’ and Kesha’s. That said, while the buildup to Gomez’s third album (and her first release in the five years since 2015’s Revival) has been mounting at a steady clip since the October release of “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now” (a track that makes it impossible to fathom anyone in the studio turning to one another upon completion and saying, “Yeah, this is a hit–fantastic work!”), Rare’s debut into the world doesn’t necessarily do much to prove that Gomez is just that.
Starting with her eponymous third single from the record (the video for which looks very much like an 00s Britney Spears perfume ad–think Curious), Gomez immediately cuts to the quick of what the album is all about: Justin Bieber. Or rather, all the ways in which he, for a period, eviscerated her self-confidence as a result of marrying Hailey Baldwin (best known for…modeling?) in 2018 (though an official ceremony was not carried out until 2019). When taking into account the fraught on-again, off-again nature of the Gomez/Bieber dynamic (which commenced in 2010, went on rock solidly until 2012 and then devolved into some Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton shit), perhaps Gomez served as the Mac Miller figure of the scenario, the latter also likely just as blindsided by news of Ariana Grande getting engaged so soon after their own breakup. In both cases, it was like, “Bitch, when did you find time to fall in love if you were even half as consumed by mourning as I was?” At least Grande outlived Miller to be the one to make a record about the whole ordeal. And, since it’s pretty apparent that Hailey Baldwin has Justin under lock and key with regard to talking about Gomez (on a side note, Bieber has an album coming out in March, which could easily topple Gomez’s take on the situation–though “Yummy” doesn’t offer much of a “take” on anything), it is she who has been able to speak with the most candor about the shattered relationship (barring most of the singles on Bieber’s 2015 record, Purpose–i.e. “What Do You Mean?,” “Sorry” and Where Are Ü Now”). Something that “Rare” establishes with wistful lyrics that include, “Saw us gettin’ older/Burnin’ toast in the toaster/My ambitions were too high…/It feels like you don’t care/Why don’t you recognize I’m so rare?”
Well, dudes don’t really enjoy it when a broad goes on and on about being special (obviously why Woody Allen wanted to cast her for A Rainy Day in New York, right?). The whole point of being special is for it to be implied rather than declared. Still, Gomez is determined to take back her life and showcase her specialness to someone else, as evidenced on “Dance Again.” An ideal track to listen to when coming out of the depression cocoon of a breakup, the Mattman & Robin-produced track is filled with the jubilant beats that perfectly capture a conquering woman on the prowl as she asserts, “I kickstart the rhythm/All the trauma’s in remission/No, I don’t need permission/I kickstart my system/When I speak my body listens”–this also referring to Gomez’s health issues in the years after she was diagnosed with lupus, at last under control, along with her emotions. Maybe this is why she felt arrogant enough to “create” a song like the endlessly annoying “Look At Her Now,” which isn’t even worth mentioning save to note that it has the same faux taunting, little girl vibe of Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” At the least, however, the embarrassment is mitigated by the power ballad that is “Lose You To Love Me,” which, indeed, took more courage than most would have to put out there–for it’s not always easy to immortalize one’s pain and feelings of betrayal in song (though Justin Timberlake was all too happy to with “Cry Me A River”).
“Ring” (not to be confused with Cardi B’s or Taylor’s “Paper Rings”) picks up where “Rare” left off with Gomez making further claims of her uniqueness by going right in with, “I’m one in a billion, baby/Don’t you agree?…/Obviously, you know, I’m aware of that/I’m breakin’ hearts like a heart attack.” Hmmm, one doesn’t know about all that considering Bieber’s abandonment of her. But whatever Gomez needs to do to sustain the rebuilding of her self-confidence. The tenuousness of that self-confidence being addressed on “Vulnerable.” Co-written with a gaggle that includes Jon Bellion, Gomez once more seems to be alluding to Bieber (or at least how skittish he rendered her) with the worries, “If I give you every piece of me, I know that you could drop it/Give you the chance, I know that you could take advantage once you got it/If I open my heart to you, I know that you could lock it/Throw away the key, and keep it there forever in your pocket.” And we all know The Weeknd certainly did nothing to assuage her concerns about that fear with his quick to profit from their breakup record, My Dear Melancholy (something that’s only okay when Justin does it to her).
The Halsey-tinged “People You Know” (think: “Without Me”) serves as one of the more standout songs on the record, especially for its single potential. With Billboard and Jason Evigan (who also worked with Madonna on Rebel Heart’s “Ghosttown” and Madame X’s “Crazy”) contributing to production, the song’s bittersweet chorus about “people you know” turning into “people you don’t” mimics the “Somebody That I Used to Know” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore” (a track, naturally, that Gomez also contributed vocals to) lamentations on the frailty of romantic relationships. You’d think some of those fuckboys could handle a little goddamn lupus, the condition Gomez loosely alludes to (along with Madonna) on “Let Me Get Me,” as she remarks, “Like a prayer surroundin’ us/Movin’ effortlessly/Every word is relief/I’m in dance floor therapy, all my babies and me…/No self-sabotage, no letting my thoughts run/Me and this spiral are done.” Because depression and anxiety are both par for the course with lupus (forcing Gomez to cancel her tour in 2016 long before Grande had the “monopoly” [song pun intended] on being the depression and anxiety spokesperson in the pop realm), Gomez insists that, like her heartache over Bieber, she has quashed the plight. Part of doing so involves not getting so much inside of her own head, hence the chorus, “I won’t let me get me” (though P!NK might want to take some credit for that line with “Don’t Let Me Get Me”).
The laid-back slow jam that is “Crowded Room” featuring 6LACK speaks to the better times that might have occurred in the Bieber/Gomez rapport, with the narrative detailing the way in which two people can feel like the only ones in a room together–no matter how crowded–when the love is real. Or at least feels real at the moment. With some of the songwriting credit going to Bebe Rexha, the track offers the perfect blend of pop hop (or hip pop, depending on how you want to bill the melange). Contrasted by “Kinda Crazy,” Gomez highlights how quickly the sentiments of “Crowded Room” can all go south by painting the picture, “You started out sweeter than hard candy/Words were like licorice to the taste/But slowly all the sugar it went to waste…/I think you’re kinda crazy/And not the good kind, baby/’Cause you’re actin super shady.” Again, it’s fairly evident that Justin is the inspiration here.
The generically titled “Fun” could effortlessly pass for a Julia Michaels song thanks to yet another writing contribution from her (in addition to Justin Tranter, with both helping to write a number of songs on the record for an added metaness to the “in your face” feel of it–for they’re also no strangers to working with Bieber). Mirroring the theme of “Hands To Myself,” Gomez admits to knowing that her latest source of infatuation is sure to be yet another heartbreaker, or “trouble,” as Taylor also calls it. Describing her dilemma as though she’s stalkerishly eyeballing her prey from afar, she remarks, “Can’t stop myself, it’s true…/You may not be the one, but you look like fun.” Something, to be sure, Gomez needs plenty of after a four-year period of emotional rollercoastering (not exactly aided by Stefano Gabbana declaring her to be “brutta” back in 2018). So no wonder she’s cultivated a no bullshit philosophy on tolerating (or rather, not tolerating) fuckery, as evidenced on “Cut You Off,” which sounds like it could be based on a composite of Bieber and The Weeknd (kind of like Grande’s “in my head” could be about both Mac Miller and Pete Davidson). Just as Britney was well-aware, Gomez seems to be all too cognizant that the act of hacking off hair is liberating–just as it is to cut off a toxic person, thus, “Gotta chop-chop all the extra weight I’ve been carrying…/Gotta, gotta, gotta clean my slate.” Devolving into a Muzak-y type guitar solo at one point, Gomez sounds lost in the reverie of her potential to start all over again, fuckboy- (therefore baggage-)free. So it is that she enters the realm of “A Sweeter Place” (in collaboration with Kid Cudi). Thanks to another Madonna-familiar co-producer on the track, Mike Dean, the sense of yearning for a sort of utopia is manifest in the gentle rhythms and harmonies that find Gomez asking, “Is there a place where I can hide away?/Red lips, french kiss my worries all away/There must be a sweeter place.” Maybe Gomez will just have to settle for that place being the intangible spot at number one on the Billboard 200. If not, she certainly has enough dough to get to somewhere sweeter than the U.S.
The taunting “Feel Me” (produced by The Arcade) kicks off the bonus track portion of Rare, with Gomez essentially jeering (albeit in a sugary sweet pop tone), “Every time your lips touch another/I want you to feel me/Every time you dance with somebody/I want you to feel me.” Then again, she can’t really be blamed for having such intense feelings of embittered disbelief when taking into account how callously Bieber not only “bounced to the next” but straight up got married out of left field (even Ari didn’t take it that far in the end–granted it took Miller’s death to stop her). As an intro to her vindictive sentiments, she states, “We were one in a million/And love is hard to find.” Evidently not when you’re Justin B. As the bonus tracks continue, Gomez merely brings us some of the singles she’s released over the past couple years, including “Bad Liar” (the video of which brought us a lame in “shock” value ending), “Fetish” featuring Gucci Mane, “It Ain’t Me” featuring Kygo, “Back To You” (from the Gomez-produced 13 Reasons Why Soundtrack)–the video for which she does her best imitation of a Jean-Luc Godard movie, specifically Pierrot Le Fou–and “Wolves” featuring Marshmello.
Burgeoning at the seams with emotion and earnestness, Rare might not exactly be “groundbreaking” pop, but it is sure to be among one of the most beloved records of the first few months of this already increasingly strange year, 2020.
