Five years after the release of her last album, Revival, singer and actress Selena Gomez released her third studio album on January 10, 2020. The former Disney star started her career in the music industry back in 2009 in a band named Selena Gomez and the scene but later pursued a solo career after the band broke up in 2012. After years of preparing her junior album, titled Rare, Gomez finally released the 13 track album, surprising her fans with a brand new taste. The album includes songs featuring other artists such as 6lack and Kid Cudi, as well as songs written by singer Julia Michaels and Finneas. 

For several years, Gomez has gone through difficult times in dealing with her mental and physical health: from undergoing a kidney transplant to moving on from heartbreak, the soprano singer took her time writing every song on Rare, making it as deep and personal as she could. Revival focused on finding her true self, while the theme for Rare concentrates on moving away from the past and embracing her own self-confidence. 

On October 23, 2019, Selena Gomez released her first single of the album, “Lose You To Love Me,” and released her second single “Look At Her Now” the next day. “Lose You To Love Me” delivered a much more acoustic vibe vocals, in comparison to the upbeat electropop style used in“Look At Her Now”. 

The first track on the album starts off with the song, “Rare,” in which Gomez sings:

“It feels like you don’t care

Why don’t you recognize I’m so rare?

…

You don’t do the same for me, that’s not fair

I don’t have it all

I’m not claiming to

But I know that I’m special,”

As most listeners can notice while listening to the song, Gomez uses these lyrics to encourage self-empowerment and confidence. The beautifully upbeat bass guitar playing in the background makes the song extremely catchy and dance-inducing. 

Unlike her previous albums, the singer changes it up by bringing more variety to each track’s style of each of the tracks: every song on the album takes on a different beat, instruments and background vocals. Tracks such as “Dance Again” and “Let Me Get Me” both use fast electronic beats that make listeners want to move while other songs, like “Fun” and “Cut You Off”, start off with a slow tempo then gradually uses electric guitar strums to speed it up. As another result of Gomez experimenting with tunes outside her typical style, the song “Sweeter Place” manages to allow a choir to sing loudly in the chorus rather them sing distantly in the background. 

Listeners will also find the singer uses figurative language to create a lyrical narrative in songs. For instance in the song “Rings” Gomez sings:

“Wrapped ’round my finger like a ring, ring, ring

They just like puppets on a string, string, string

I put it down, they call me up

They doin’ way too much

So I’ll just let it ring, ring, ring,”

Even though fans experienced a completely different style than what Gomez used to produce, this album still manages to successfully define her as an artist. Rare describes the emotions that Gomez feels or has felt in the past through all her struggles, something that her fans crave to understand as they listen to her music. 

Chant Grade: A