Rare (Selena Gomez album)

Rare (Selena Gomez album)
Rare is the third studio album by American singer Selena Gomez, released on January 10, 2020, by Interscope Records. As the executive producer, Gomez worked with many producers, including Ian Kirkpatrick, Jason Evigan, Mattman & Robin, Sir Nolan, Simon Says, The Monsters & Strangerz and David Pramik. Described by Gomez as her "diary from the past few years", Rare is a midtempo pop and dance-pop record, taking cues from electronic, Latin pop and R&B styles. Lyrically, the album explores themes of self-love, self-empowerment, self-acceptance, and self-worth. Guest features on Rare are from rappers 6lack and Kid Cudi.
The album was promoted by two singles prior to its release: The lead single "Lose You to Love Me" was released on October 23, 2019. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and became Gomez's first number-one single in the United States. "Look at Her Now" was released a day after the lead single, peaking at number 27 on the chart. Coinciding with the album release, the title track was made the third single, peaking at number 30 on the Hot 100. Rare was marketed as "#SG2", signifying Gomez's second album with Interscope. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its production and cohesiveness, with many calling it Gomez's best album to date. Rare topped the charts in several countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, and Scotland.
Debuting atop the Billboard 200, Rare gave Gomez her third consecutive number-one album in the US. The Target-exclusive edition of Rare additionally includes five of Gomez's standalone singles released in 2017–18: "Bad Liar", "Fetish" featuring Gucci Mane, "It Ain't Me" with Kygo, "Back to You", and "Wolves" with Marshmello. The vinyl edition of Rare adds "Feel Me" as a bonus track. The deluxe edition with three new tracks, including the fourth single "Boyfriend", was released on April 9, 2020.
Background and release
Speaking in a November 2019 interview for Apple Music on the subject of her upcoming studio album Rare, Gomez admitted that the unreleased tracks were where she currently was. She also said that the songs on the tracklist went well with each other, after putting them in order.
Gomez appeared on the radio program On Air with Ryan Seacrest and stated that she had "a million ideas and it's just going to be cooler and it's going to be stronger and it's going to be better." She stated on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that the album would have a "sense of strong pop", and that she experimented with electric guitar. She also said that it took her "four years now to even feel at a good place with this album".
According to Semrush, Rare was one of 2020's three most-searched albums on Google, collecting 1.2 million monthly searches; the other two are Taylor Swift's Folklore and J Balvin's Colores.
Music and lyrics
Rare is primarily a pop and dance-pop record with a dark tone, deriving elements from various musical styles, such as R&B, electro, funk-pop, reggaeton, alternative pop and electronic music. The main themes are of "love, loss and dating". Gomez herself stated that the album is "honest, empowering and uplifting", while its main messages are "self-love, acceptance and empowerment". She also added that the songs on Rare are "the most honest music I've ever made".
Songs
The standard edition of Rare contains 13 tracks. The opener and title track is a "quiet but impactful self-love anthem" with lyrics discussing "the wavering interests of a lover" and the singer realizing "her love interest isn't valuing her in the way she deserves". Its sound has been referred to as "backing vocals and instrumentals muffled as if the whole thing has been dunked underwater". The following track, "Dance Again", is a blend of multiple genres, including funk, dance, electro, and electropop. It encompasses an "infectious" and "mellifluous" melody, "Cure-like" bass, "fuzzy" synths and a "walloping disco bassline". It has been described as "lite-Daft Punk" and "low-key yet deeply infectious". Co-written with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, "Look at Her Now" is an upbeat dance-pop and electropop track which explores "being better off without the bad ones" and getting over the end of a relationship. The fourth song, "Lose You to Love Me", is the only ballad on Rare. Its "bare-bones" production incorporates "plucked" violins, "booming" bass, "tearjerker" piano, an orchestra, and "multi-tracked Gomez voices cascading against each other". The song is about self-love and finding out one's true self while losing a lover in the process. Critics speculated that it may reference about Gomez's relationship with Justin Bieber. The Latin-infused "Ring", which deals with "toying with noncommittal lovers", drew comparisons to the works of Camila Cabello (namely her 2017 hit single "Havana"), Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know", as well as Santana's "Smooth". Produced by the Monsters & Strangerz with Jon Bellion, "Vulnerable" is a "warm" disco and electropop record with a "moody synth groove" and elements of italo disco and tropical house.
Influences of Latin music are also present on the upbeat and "dancefloor-ready" "Let Me Get Me". The first of Rares two collaborations, "Crowded Room", is an R&B song which features singer 6lack. Tracks 10, 11, and 12 all have a funk sound. "Kinda Crazy" is a "tongue-in-cheek tune" and "sinuous kiss-off" driven by a "clean bluesy guitar lick and accompanying horns". "Cut You Off" is a "slinky" funk-inflected downtempo pop song and a slow jam about "saying goodbye to a relationship that's dragging you down". It has been compared to the works of Taylor Swift. Rare concludes with "A Sweeter Place": A collaboration with rapper Kid Cudi, the song "documents the life lessons [Gomez] has learned and expresses hope that brighter days lie ahead". The vinyl and digital bonus track editions of Rare feature the song "Feel Me", which was previously featured on the setlist of Gomez's 2016 Revival Tour. Gomez released the song on digital platforms on February 21, 2020, the day of the vinyl release.
Promotion
The album and its title were first announced on Gomez's Instagram page, where she revealed the cover art and included a snippet of the title track.
The standard edition of the studio album was promoted and preceded by the release of "Lose You to Love Me" released October 23, 2019, and "Look at Her Now" on October 24, 2019. On November 24, 2019, Gomez performed "Lose You to Love Me" and "Look at Her Now" at the 2019 American Music Awards to promote the album. The title track was released as the second single the same day the album came out. Gomez also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and The Kelly Clarkson Show to promote the album.
In addition, "Dance Again" was scheduled to be used to promote CBS Sports and Turner Sports' coverage of the 2020 NCAA tournament. However, the song was never used, as the event was canceled over concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic. A part of the proceeds from "Dance Again" went toward the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. A performance video of the track was posted on YouTube on March 26, 2020.
Critical reception
Rare received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 76 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Jem Aswad of Variety labeled Rare "one of the best pop albums to be released in recent memory" and described it as "sophisticated, precisely written and expertly produced music". While calling it "shockingly, and beautifully, upbeat", Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone opined that the album is "an act of divine ruthlessness, full of dance-y, mid-tempo clarity". Writing for NME, Rhian Daly called the album "a beautifully confident return from one of pop's most underrated stars, and a quietly defiant wrestling back of the narrative surrounding her", while Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly praised the album's "lightness" despite its "heavy messaging".
Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times named Rare as Gomez's "most meaningful solo disc" and opined that it embraces "an infectious spirit of adventure". Similarly, Vultures Craig Jenkins wrote that the album is "almost inarguably Selena Gomez's best album". In a mixed review, Pitchforks Quinn Moreland stated that the album was her "most cohesive record to date" but that "[Gomez's] introspection can only go so deep when it's paired with sleek, easy songwriting that lets her slip by". In concurrence, Alexandra Pollard of The Independent gave the album three stars out of five, deeming it "an accomplished, coherent record, with moments of ecstasy and others of pathos" but concluding that it "never quite gets out from beneath the shadow of half a decade of behemothic bangers".
Idolator listed Rare among the 20 best pop albums of 2020, for being an "extraordinarily accomplished pop album that tackles serious issues like self worth and mental health" while complimenting "Lose You to Love Me" as a "Grammy-worthy ballad"; the tracks "Vulnerable", "Ring", "People You Know" and "A Sweeter Place" were highlighted as the "delights" from the album.
Year-end lists
Rare was featured on several year-end list of best albums. It was listed at number 30 on Uproxxs "The Best Albums of 2020" list, with the editors commenting "Coming into her adulthood necessarily meant facing down those two demons, and she does it with idiosyncratic lyrics, outstanding vocal performances, and earworm hooks." Rolling Stone ranked it at number 24 on "The Best Albums of 2020" list, with Julia Childing stating that "it’s cathartic to hear Gomez dump out the bad years like they’re just burned toast". The publication also listed "Cut You Off", a song from the album as the 19th best song of 2020. Billboard listed the title track as one of the best pop songs of 2020.
Accolades
Commercial performance
In the United States, Rare debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning 112,000 album-equivalent units (including 53,000 copies as pure album sales) in its first week. This became Gomez's third US number-one debut and the first album released in the 2020s to top the chart. The album also accumulated a total of 79.3 million on-demand streams for album’s tracks that week. In its second week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, earning an additional 38,000 units. As of December 2020, the album has earned 703,000 album-equivalent units in the US, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. In July 2021, Rare had sold 123,000 pure copies in the US.
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart earning 17,661 album-equivalent units in its first week. It became her highest-charting album in the country. In Australia, the album debuted at number one on the ARIA Top 100 Albums Chart, becoming Gomez's first number-one debut in the country. It also became her first number-one album in Argentina, Belgium (Flanders), Lithuania, Portugal and Scotland.
Track listing
Notes
signifies a producer and vocal producer
signifies a vocal producer
signifies an additional producer
signifies a co-producer
signifies an additional vocal producer
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Rare.
Vocals
Selena Gomez – lead vocals , backing vocals
6lack – featured vocals
Kid Cudi – featured vocals, backing vocals
Caroline Ailin – backing vocals
Amy Allen – backing vocals
Chloe Angelides – backing vocals
Jon Bellion – backing vocals
Jason Evigan – backing vocals
Steph Jones – backing vocals
Ian Kirkpatrick – backing vocals
Madison Love – backing vocals
Mattman & Robin – backing vocals, choir vocals
MNEK – backing vocals
Julia Michaels – backing vocals , choir vocals
Liza Owen – backing vocals
Henry Oyekanmi – backing vocals
David Pramik – backing vocals
Avena Savage – backing vocals
Jasmine Thompson – backing vocals
Justin Tranter – backing vocals, choir vocals
Mark Williams – backing vocals
Instrumentation
Jon Bellion – instrumentation
Billboard – instrumentation
Carl Bodell – trumpet
David Bukovinszky – cello
Mattais Bylund – string synthesizer, string arrangement, string editing, string recording
Kid Cudi – instrumentation
Mike Dean – instrumentation
Jason Evigan – instrumentation
Jake Faun – instrumentation , guitar
Finneas – percussion, synths, strings, bass guitar
Kristoffer Fogelmark – keyboards, drums, instrumentation, guitar, bass
Alex Hope – instrumentation
Mattias Johansson – violin
Ian Kirkpatrick – instrumentation
Johan Lenox – string composition, string arrangement
Mattman & Robin – drums , guitar , percussion, bass , piano, synths , 808, organ, strings , keyboards, claps, harp
Albin Nedler – keyboards, drums, instrumentation, guitar
Sir Nolan – instrumentation , percussion
Oladipo Omishore – instrumentation
Henry Oyekanmi – percussion
David Pramik – instrumentation, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul
Patrick Reynolds – instrumentation
Simon Says – instrumentation
The Monsters & Strangerz – instrumentation
Mark Williams – instrumentation
Rami Yacoub – keyboards, drums, instrumentation
Production
Selena Gomez – executive production
Jon Bellion – production
Kid Cudi – production
Sean Douglas – production
Jason Evigan – production
Kristoffer Fogelmark – production
Ian Kirkpatrick – production, vocal production , co-production
Mattman & Robin – production, vocal production
Albin Nedler – production
Sir Nolan – production, vocal production
Ojivolta – production
David Pramik – production
Simon Says – production, vocal production , additional production
The Monsters & Strangerz – production
Rami Yacoub – production
Finneas – additional production
Johan Lenox – additional production
Billboard – co-production
Mike Dean – co-production
Alex Hope – co-production
Oladipo Omishore – co-production
Patrick Reynolds – co-production
Benjamin Rice – vocal production
Bart Schoudel – vocal production
Gian Stone – additional vocal production
Technical
Cory Bice – engineering
Raul Cubina – engineering, programming
Ryan Dulude – engineering , assistant engineering
Rafael "Come2Brazil" Fadul – engineering
John Hanes – engineering , mix engineering
Sam Holland – engineering
Stefan Johnson – engineering
Ian Kirkpatrick – engineering
Jeremy Lertola – engineering
Mattman & Robin – engineering , programming
Sir Nolan – engineering , programming
David Pramik – engineering
Benjamin Rice – engineering
Simon Says – engineering
Bart Schoudel – engineering
William J. Sullivan – engineering
Mark Williams – engineering, programming
Bo Bodnar – assistant engineering
Andrew Boyd – assistant engineering
Kevin Brunhober – assistant engineering
Lionel Crasta – assistant engineering
Gavin Finn – assistant engineering
Chris Kahn – assistant engineering
Sedrick Moore II – assistant engineering
Mick Raskin – assistant engineering
Jeremy Tomlinson – assistant engineering
Finneas – programming
Kristoffer Fogelmark – programming
Albin Nedler – programming
Rami Yacoub – programming
Ben Dotson – post production vocal and sound editing
Jon Castelli – mixing
Serban Ghenea – mixing
Manny Marroquin – mixing
Tony Maserati – mixing
Miles Comaskey – mix engineering , assistant mix engineering
Josh Deguzman – mix engineering
Chris Galland – mix engineering
Scott Desmarais – assistant mix engineering
Robin Florent – assistant mix engineering
Jeremie Inhaber – assistant mix engineering
Najeeb Jones – assistant mix engineering
David Kim – assistant mix engineering
Dale Becker – mastering
Chris Gehringer – mastering
Will Quinnell – mastering
Design
Petra Collins – photography
Max Angles – design
Dina Hovsepian – art direction
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
Release history
See also
List of 2020 albums
List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2020
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Australia)
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Belgium)
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Canada)
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Mexico)
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Norway)
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Portugal)
List of number-one albums of 2020 (Scotland)
List of UK top-ten albums in 2020
References
Footnotes
Citations
2020 albums
Albums produced by Finneas O'Connell
Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios
Interscope Records albums
Selena Gomez albums
Albums produced by Jon Bellion
Albums produced by Kid Cudi
Albums produced by Sean Douglas (songwriter)
Albums produced by Jason Evigan
Albums produced by Alex Hope (songwriter)
Albums produced by Jonas Jeberg
Albums produced by Ian Kirkpatrick (record producer)
Albums produced by Kygo
Albums produced by Marshmello
Albums produced by Kurtis McKenzie
Albums produced by David Pramik
Albums produced by Sir Nolan
Albums produced by Andrew Watt (record producer)
Albums produced by Rami Yacoub
Albums produced by Dot da Genius
Albums produced by Mike Dean (record producer)
Albums produced by Plain Pat