Selena Gomez is Good For You

her vocals on this chorus are crazy, and the way she says 'skin tight' is insane. admittedly: something borrowed, something blue, but also -- something new. bc she actually has a voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TsVjvEkc4s

this song is phenomenal

^^

phenomenal is the word

oh look, she's gone all lana del rey

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

absolutely no idea how it is 'phenomenal' - although it is not bad - but perhaps i'm not viewing it through a selena gomez career arc lens

the music is ultimately not exciting enough to befit that word

i liked the wibbly bit in the middle

i have been informed that the song is, in fact, phenomenal. sorry.

informed by whom? socratic daimon?

you could call her that

:)

:)

listen to it on good headphones.

yeah i like it more the more i think about it - it is really tragic

the production

i heard this twice on the radio in the car today, and had no notion it was she…with this and "the heart wants what it wants," she's very much trying to corner the market for dysfunction tunes, huh? I haven't much fucked with Lana del ray…is she all about "you treat me like shit, but I love you" kinda thing?

i've only listened to Lana thru my bf, but her singing voice is p weak.

is the heart wants what it wants good? i need 2 listen

there's nobody on the radio who has less presence, who sounds less like they should be singing at any kind of professional level. this song is less horrifying than her others but still pretty bad.

Selena has a bunch of classic songs, but I admit they don't criticize phallocentricity

"Who Says" is the only one i ever thought was decent

i prefer her "i will survive" refix

why's everything "cool" of the past six years always all minor key and †dark† anyways

i like "come and get it" a lot, even though it's basically a rihanna song (as some dude pointed out, it was written for rihanna: http://www.thefader.com/2015/06/24/songs-written-for-rihanna-that-were-passed-on).

her voice on this is really quite a performance - it has the passion and commitment of a true singer, and her icy falsetto/higher register cuts like a knife.

i was confused about A$AP Rocky having a guest credit on this because he's not in the video and i thought he only produced it, but then i heard it on the radio the other day with a verse from him. man he's not much of a rapper at all, huh.

yeah i dunno, i haven't really formed an opinion. he's gotten some good girls tho.

this song is indeed good for me

still listen to 'love you like a love song' weekly
this song is p nice

surm otm itt

http://image.spreadshirtmedia.com/image-server/v1/designs/12547030,width=178,height=178/Golden-Dollar-Sign.png

Man this is lovely and a beautiful vocal performance imo

she sounds good, not much of a song though

the song (structure and melody) doesn't really go anywhere but I like her vocals which are heavily processed but still vibrant.
the rap break is pretty bad and pointless, though.

she has absolutely no presence on this and the song relies on this fact, it's like rachel stevens

she has more presence on this song than 85% of hot 100 songs i've heard in the past year

and her enunciation on "good" is presence enough for the whole track.

she always enunciates like that

idk i don't like this song

it's not even just her, it's very similar to what miley cyrus does with the verses of wrecking ball

i'm still surprised that a good friend of mine was able to get me into Wrecking Ball. but it's more for the chorus and not the verses

"Wrecking Ball" is an amazing song imo, but yeah i guess the chorus is the killer

definitely my fav Selena since "Love Song" - it's more convincing without the dead-eyed video imo

yeah, my fav since Love Song too

The more I listen to this, the more I like it (except the rap that still sucks and breaks the atmosphere and charm).
the "hmms" in the verses are great.
there's definitely something missing in the construction of the song to make it really great but it's very nice.

The video version's sparer and doesn't have the rap, I think it's prob better

oh really ? I have to check that then !

video is pretty cool. she is v v v pretty. "doin' my hair up real real nice" might be my favorite line

also that white t-shirt is Kate Moss/CK circa 1994 all over again.

OK, the video is nice and this is much better without the rap !
very exotic and sensual (which is a tour de force considering it's a very minimalist electronic track with processed vocals !).
It's a perfect hot summer evening track.
btw it made me think there's no big ubiquitous summer jam this year, is there ? (I mean "get lucky", "blurred lines" big level).

lovin you right now

i put in a good word for it on the summer jamz thread

the idea of a summer jam is primarily music industry horseshit fwiw

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

(lol at the last few posts in this thread, all by yours truly)

I’m still discovering the album but I like it a lot so far. « Ojos Tristes » in particular which reminded me of a spanish 80s track and Jeanette so I checked her discography and : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6UZlwipME

this record is really really good… I don't think it's at all bad when artists who've been around a bit are 'fluenced by newer people, but I don't see this as being at all fluenced by Roan. Gomez is a really really good recording artist.