Selena Gomez - Rare (2020) [Hi-Res]

“My life became a story,” Selena Gomez tells Apple Music of the rocky four-year period between albums, during which her love life and personal health (a lupus-related kidney transplant and self-described emotional breakdown) were the subject of intense media scrutiny. “It became entertainment, and I was just not okay with that because it was all very real to me.” With Rare, her third solo LP, the 27-year-old star moves to break free of her past and embark on a new chapter.

The project’s back-to-back lead singles—the gutting ballad “Lose You to Love Me” and the more celebratory “Look at Her Now”—effectively bookend the highs and lows of Gomez’s adolescence and trace her journey through recovery. “Took a few years to soak up the tears/But look at her now/Watch her go,” she sings on the latter. From then on, it’s all about release: Gomez spends the rest of Rare relishing the joy and lightness found in finally moving on. “I kickstart the rhythm/All the drama’s in remission,” she coos on the sultry club cut “Dance Again,” which casts her newfound independence as a strobe-lit night out. “I’m high off the weight off of my shoulders.” On “Fun,” she pokes fun at her health struggles by turning them into come-ons (“My kind of trouble likes your kind of trouble,” she sings to a love interest who keeps her “higher than the medication”), flipping a perceived weakness into a power source.

Crucially, Rare is more about self-love than anything—or anyone—else. Marked by playful, exuberant production and thoughtful assists from 6LACK and Kid Cudi, it feels confident, optimistic, and free—as if Gomez is seeing the world with fresh eyes. She may be, but the album’s power is rooted in how far she’s come. Listen to songs like “Let Me Get Me” and “Cut You Off” and find an artist who is older, wiser, stronger, and all grown up.