Is Selena Gomez's 'Rare' a Flat Attempt at an Album?
It is no lie to say that Selena Gomez is a talented singer and deserves recognition for her accomplishments. However, "Rare", the singer's newest album, falls flat on its face with the monotony and the little amount flare.
There is barely a reason to listen to the entire album unless you are a diehard Selena Gomez fan or you are being forced to by your job. Even the title track "Rare" feels hollow and ultimately forgettable after the initial excitement is over.
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The Good
The best parts of this album are the grooving beats that drive a few of the songs like " Dance Again" and "Let Me Get Me", the features from Kid Cudi and 6lack, and one stand out track.
Jon Bellion, The Monsters & Strangerz, Mattias Per Larsson, and Robin Lennart Fredriksson had stand out performances with their contributions to the album. The songs they contributed to definitely had a great quality to them.
Billboard & Alex Hope also did a good job at trying to make the repetitive brain-numbing song "People You Know" sound ok if you don't pay attention to the 18 times she says the same line (almost 40% of the song).
The features on the album actually steal the show from Selena herself. 6lack's voice flows much better than Selena's over the track and Kid Cudi completely overshadowed the singer with his appearance. "A Sweeter Place" is worth the listen just to hear Cudi jump in and take the song two levels higher.
The stand out track was one that was released at the lead single off the album, "Lose You To Love Me." It is easy to understand now why Interscope Records chose to tease the album with that track. It is the only one worth mentioning a few months down the road.
The Bad
First off, let's just cast that annoying vocal riff from "Look at Her Now" into the farthest pit of hell. Whoever made that decision absolutely made a wrong one.
Secondly, the album only deserves credit from the producers and the mixers of the album making the lackluster vocal performance and the bland writing sound decent. Maybe Selena would have been better off writing the songs for herself, using the feeling of heartbreak as her muse, so that the songs wouldn't sound so mundane.
In Conclusion
All in all, the album felt uninspired. It fell flat on what it could have delivered and instead produced a hollow example of a heartbreak album. The main artist was outshined by her production and features.
While it is far from unlistenable, it bears the fate of being forgettable. Not many of the songs sound like they will be remembered four months from now except the lead single.
There was so much promise of something greater. Selena is a great vocalist and the producers on this album are phenomenal, but it did not come together in a way that mattered.
