back cover of selena gomez revival album

Alas, it’s the latter that features here and though the busier arrangement works on its own terms, Rocky’s vocal presence is an unfortunate, unwelcome distraction. Remember when The National first released a curiously tame, muddy-sounding ‘Terrible Love’ before quickly bringing out a far superior alternative version? ‘Good for You’ comes in two forms a stripped-back, smoky and hypnotic solo affair and a slightly bouncier, brighter effort featuring a pedestrian verse from A$AP Rocky that grates a little more each time it pops up. That said, there’s a nagging oddity at play. Most of all, ‘Good for You’ excels simply by being a terrifically constructed and presented pop song. Lyrically, she carefully paints with shades of grey, leaving room for dark ambiguity. Vocally, her command is nothing short of exceptional. Where the former acted as a bridge between Gomez’s work until that point and this fresh chapter, ‘Good for You’ is the sexiest scorched earth policy you’re ever likely to hear. The notion of explicit rebirth extends to the imagery associated with Selena Gomez 2015, plainly on an artful naked pose on the cover of the record’s deluxe edition and utterly impossible to ignore on, barring something very special down the line, what is likely to go down as the finest few minutes of her career.įrankly, to go from the sub- Dawson’s Creek monologue that opens the video for the otherwise great ‘The Heart Wants What It Wants’ to the matter-of-fact confidence and subtle duality displayed on ‘Good for You’ in the space of a year is astonishing. ”This is my revival”,goes the playful decree on the opening and title track following a spoken word stanza that feels like the shedding of a chrysalis long before the on-the-nose mention of it being her ”time to butterfly”. She isn’t backwards in coming forwards about her new approach, either. Witness her quietly impressive turn in Harmony Korine’s empty-headed film student treatise on youth and vacuity Spring Breakers for glimpses of the presence Gomez resolutely displays here. Blessed/cursed with a face that refuses to allow significant signs of ageing, she often invites condescension but there’s an intelligent, growing artist behind those features. Recent years have presented Jessie J’s desperate grab at the American market, Ariana Grande swapping out garishly-painted Nickelodeon noise for sultry, adult-oriented belters and, but of course, Miley Cyrus’ reinvention as America’s most terrifying nightmare a grown woman in control of her sexuality.Įnter Selena Gomez and second solo album proper Revival, drawing parallels with all three of the above and more besides. Sometimes cynical, sometimes natural, the move from one extreme to another usually garners headlines but conviction – or lack thereof – ultimately tells. A fascinating moment in the arc of any major pop act.

Back cover of selena gomez revival album