by Leanna Tabora, entertainment editor
Just like her pop superstar best friend Taylor Swift says, “Today is never too late to be brand new.” Selena Gomez took her best friend’s words upon herself with her comeback album, Revival, which was released on October 9th.
Gomez hasn’t released an album since July 2013, so Revival was definitely a major deal for both her and her fans. This album showed the singer as a brand new person after all the obstacles she tackled with body shaming, love/heartbreak, her health, and finding herself. Her self-happiness and confidence is now a major priority in her life, and that’s what the music on Revival is meant to show.
“The music is going to take over because that’s how confident I am about it,” Selena Gomez said in an interview with L.A. radio station Power 106.
There are so many songs on the album that prove Gomez definitely revived. The title track and first track, “Revival,” does that best. The song shows Gomez has entered a fresh start in her life. She sings, “What I’ve learned/ Is so vital/ More than just survival/ This is my revival.” Gomez is telling everyone that she spent the past two years of her life surviving through one of the hardest times of her life, and that she has now strengthened and recovered from it.
“Revival” is not the only song that displays Gomez’s new-found empowerment. “Kill ‘Em With Kindness,” “Survivors” (which Gomez describes as the album’s anthem), “Rise,” and the deluxe song “Me & My Girls” basically show that Gomez is not hung up on heartbreak anymore, and that she is an independent woman who doesn’t care about the hate or backlash she constantly receives. These songs are the most powerful and inspiring on the album, with lyrics like “We are survivors of the wild” and “You can rise like the ride, like the heat in the summer.”
“I really love Kill ‘Em With Kindness because it has a great message that shows that you don’t have to be mean to people when they try to bring you down,” seventh grader Elizabeth Fourniotis said.
Although the album preaches empowerment and self-love, there are a few vulnerable tracks. Everyone knows that her former relationship with Justin Bieber had a major impact on her life and her revival, so it was proper of her to include him in a sensitive perspective.
“Camouflage” is the ballad of the album. It’s a song that consists of only Gomez and a piano, and it’s arguably one of the best tracks on the album because of how honest and precious it is. Gomez softly sings, “It’s good to see you here again/ I don’t wanna say goodbye/ But it’s about half past ten, and I have to catch my ride.” The lyrics are not only beautiful, but they sound so real. It’s great to see Selena in such an authentic way.
“Nobody” and “Perfect” are some of the deluxe tracks on the album, as well as the other few songs giving into her former relationship with Bieber. In “Nobody,” she sings about how she’ll never love anyone else the way Bieber loved her. In “Perfect,” she seems helpless after Bieber has been with another girl, because she doesn’t feel as “perfect” as her. She sings, “Maybe I should be more like her/ I can taste her lipstick/ It’s like I’m kissing her too/ Hey, she’s perfect.” These two songs also bring out the contemporary electro pop sound the album consists of, and it does that perfectly.
Gomez doesn’t only sing about love in a vulnerable perspective, but in a very seductive way too. “Good For You,” the lead single of the album, is the sexiest track of the album. Along with “Good For You,” there are many more sexy tracks such as “Hands To Myself” and “Body Heat.” This new sensual side of the singer is amazing and she include just the right amount of it on this album.
“Revival is better than Selena’s previous albums because she expresses the struggles she went through, especially towards her breakup with Justin. This album is truly inspiring,” junior Giovanna Esposito said.
Selena Gomez may not have power house vocals or the best songwriting techniques in the industry, but she definitely proved to have the best comeback with her revival.
