Rare (Selena Gomez album)


Rare is the third studio album by American singer Selena Gomez, released by Interscope Records on January 10, 2020. As the executive producer, she 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 singer 6lack and rapper 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|Billboard (magazine)|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 received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its production and cohesiveness, with many calling it Gomez's best album to date. The album debuted at number one in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, and the United States. Rare has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 1 million equivalent units in the United States.
A Target-exclusive edition of Rare additionally includes five of Gomez's standalone singles released in 2017–2018: "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. A deluxe edition with three new tracks, including the third 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, 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 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 " 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.
PublicationListRank
AllMusicFavorite Pop Albums of 2020
BillboardThe 50 Best Albums of 202022
BillboardThe 25 Best Pop Albums of 2020
The GuardianThe 50 Best Albums of 202045
The GuardianAlim Kheraj's Best Albums of 2020
The GuardianKate Solomon's Best Albums of 2020
MetroThe Best Albums of 2020
NYLONTop Albums of 2020
PeopleThe Best Albums of 20205
PopSugarBest Albums of 202033
Rolling StoneThe 50 Best Albums of 202024
UproxxThe Best Albums of 202030
UproxxThe Best Pop Albums of 20207

UMI Yearlies named Rare album of the year in 2020.

Commercial performance

In the United States, Rare debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning 112,000 album-equivalent units 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 and highest-selling album in the country, being certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry in April 2021 for sales of 100,000 album units. 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, Lithuania, Portugal and Scotland.

Track listing

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  • The Japanese limited edition includes all the bonus tracks of the standard edition and a bonus DVD which features the behind the scenes and music videos of "Lose You to Love Me", and "Look at Her Now".
  • The Japanese special edition features the standard edition track listing order and includes all the bonus tracks from the deluxe edition at the end of the album. Additionally, it comes with a bonus DVD, offering exclusive behind the scenes footage, the music video, and a live performance from the Village Studio of "Rare", the performance video of "Dance Again", the live performance from the Revival Tour of "Feel Me", and the music video of "Boyfriend".
  • Fifth anniversary edition CDs include an exclusive snippet of "Sunset Blvd", with Benny Blanco, from their 2025 collaborative album I Said I Love You First.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Rare.

Vocals

Instrumentation

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 – [Audio Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing (recorded music)|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