Recommended Tracks: “Younger and Hotter Than Me,” “Call Me When You Break Up (with Gracie Abrams),” “Don’t Wanna Cry”
Artists You May Like: Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter
Four years after Selena Gomez‘s Grammy-nominated EP Revelación (and five years since her last full-length project Rare), the pop star has returned to music — and entirely on her own terms. On I Said I Love You First, released March 21 via SMG Music LLC & Friends Keep Secrets under an exclusive license to Interscope Records, Gomez finds a partner who brings out the best in her, fiancee Benny Blanco. Blanco’s personal and musical influence allows Gomez to tell her story of learning to love herself, her life and her partner through a sonic blend of easy pop and dance fusion that pays homage to her entire career — all under Blanco’s undeniably production-perfect hand.
Gomez’s musical ventures have always leaned towards cranking out clubby-pop smash-hit radio singles, usually with a bit of cheek and a universally relatable hook. But this time around, I Said I Love You First is all about Gomez getting to tell her story and how it inevitably led to her finding her forever in her collaborator, Blanco. The album seems to run a chronological storyline, interspersing spoken interludes and thematic choices combing through Gomez’s past, present and future.
The album opens with a tangibly emotional voice recording from Gomez’s last days shooting Wizards of Waverly Place, as cameras snap and she tearily thanks her Wizards family for giving her a platform to build on for the rest of her life. Now, more than a decade later, the FINNEAS-produced piano ballad “Younger and Hotter Than Me” is Gomez’s reflection on all that’s happened since that moment and the damage done by the loss of love and identity.
Across the project, Gomez shines in these moments of soft, easy pop, with songs like “Ojos Tristes,” “How Does It Feel to be Forgotten” and “You Said You Were Sorry” carrying the power of her words to the forefront of her musical work consistently for the first time in her career. It falls on Blanco’s shoulders to craft a sonic landscape that honors Gomez’s true pop roots in such a way that feels safe and ethereal — and like the master he is, he molds each one to her perfectly.
It wouldn’t be a Gomez record without a smattering of pop hits, and she delivers in this department too. Do you want soft, boppy pop? Here’s “Call Me When You Break Up (with Gracie Abrams).” Do you want sultry, vintage pop? Here’s “Sunset Blvd.” Or how about teeth-grinding club pop? Charli XCX-co written and Cashmere Cat-produced “Bluest Flame” has you covered.
If you can’t decide and want all of the above, “Don’t Wanna Cry” is the answer to your prayers. This kind of pop isn’t likely to break Gomez another Billboard Hot 100 hit, but that’s not the point for her anymore. Her music is her outlet to tell her stories in the most authentic way she can, and her fiancee just so happens to have the perfect pop-production skill set for letting her most authentic musical side shine.
After dipping her toe across the project in sonic choices that reflect her eras past from Kiss & Tell to Stars Dance to Revelación, the timeline aligns on “I Can’t Get Enough,” the first track Gomez and Blanco released together in collaboration with J Balvin and Tainy back in 2019. Despite its massive radio success, this song never found a home on an album — until now as Gomez and Blanco bookmark the song in this particular chapter of their love story.
The album closes with the duo “Don’t Take It Personally” and “Scared of Loving You,” which embody Gomez and Blanco’s stability and power as a musical duo and couple. From one track to the next, Gomez sings, “Pleasе don’t take it personally / Some things arе just meant to be” and “How could they love you / As much as I do?” Gomez knew that she and Benny were a match made in heaven, and now with I Said I Love You First, she’s shown the rest of the world that this is a partnership that will last forever.
Keep up with Selena Gomez: Instagram // X // Facebook // TikTok // Website
Keep up with Benny Blanco: Instagram // X // Facebook // TikTok // Website
