Okay, “Rare” is out and there is nothing vocally stunning here. No wide vocal range, no high notes just Selena effortlessly capturing hearts with her fearless vulnerability and profound resonance.
And what a win, if you ask me. A kind of deeper and special win that will always triumph over the widest of ranges and the highest of notes. No shade to any vocal queen out there. Just plain facts.
Selena is enjoyably sleek and ruthlessly witty in cutting off whatever had ‘professionally’ tampered with her trust, self-esteem and happiness in the past. She is deliciously, almost wickedly now fully cognizant of her rarity and specialness and she is determined to keep this epiphanic feeling at the top of everything she does or plunges into now.
She has had her fill. She isn’t here anymore for all the kinds of mistreatment she regrettably allowed back in the “blind-love” days. Henceforth, she will always prioritise her mental and physical health over any issue or person. However she refuses to lose her vulnerability; not even if she is stabbed in the heart again. She will keep being humane. She will keep baring her honest, emotional, dramatic self, knowing that there is nothing like being herself and that she deserves to be loved unconditionally, uncompromisingly for that true self.
No apologies. It’s all or nothing now.
What a growth Sel! And what fortitude!
BREAKING DOWN THE JOURNEY FROM SELF-SABOTAGE, TO EPIPHANY, TO SELF-LOVE, TO RESILIENCE & FINALLY FREEDOM
Guys the “Rare” album lyrics literally solidifies everything that BTS preached during the “Love Yourself” album era. With “Rare” the crucial need for self-love became all too realistic and all too dire for me. Now I know for sure that I have no option but to keep striving to love me, adore me, respect me and prioritise me so I never feel like I deserve being treated like crap or accept that I ain’t all that anyway.
That being said, let us break down Selena’s journey which has been clearly self-sabotaging but ultimately cathartic.
1. SELF-SABOTAGE: Admitting to faults
In cases of having one’s self esteem being tampered with, it’s really easy to blame the the other person in your story. It’s easy to play the victim and not acknowledge that you deserve an earful as well for ever giving anyone any chance to drain down your self worth to a hollow and tormenting extent. But Selena in her newly rediscovered self knows she had some real hand in the terrible bouts she experienced.
In her deeply poignant ballad, “Lose You To Love me” her first number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (Yay!!!), Selena confesses:
“I gave my all and they all know it
I saw the signs and I ignored it
Rose coloured glasses all distorted
Set fire to my purpose and I let it burn.”
Selena admits to ignoring red flags, confessing that she watched front row as someone messed her up complacently.
In “People You know”, she resentfully sings:
“Now I’m breathing ashes and dust
I always wanna get higher
I never know when enough is enough
So many wasted nights with you
I can still taste it
I hate it wish I could take it back…”
I dig these lines so much because they prove Selena’s realization of equal fault and how smart she has become to not give anymore room to be taken for granted.
Moreover, what an eye-opener and morale booster for others who are suffering from similar situations to rewrite their own stories and value their own selves enough to stop taking bullshit.
In “Rare”, the single from which she named her entire album (I know, that says a lot already) Selena vocalises with class, how rare and special she knows she is even though she is far from perfect.
“It feels like you don’t care
Why don’t you recognize I’m so rare?
I don’t have it all
I’m not claiming to
But I know that I’m special (So special)”
Selena is finally conscious of the rare gem that she is regardless of her flaws (I mean, how are you just realising that now Selena?!) and I’m totally here for it❤.
You know, it’s really funny how we completely forget or consciously undermine what makes us rare and special simply because certain humans with flaws sometimes even worse than ours, don’t treat us as such. It’s really funny, guys. Darkly funny.
3 . RESILIENCE: Staying vulnerable
The Sixth track, “Vulnerable”, my favourite as of now, is filled with lyrics that rhetorically show how badly Selena had been hurt in the past, how she is filled with insecurities but chooses to remain resilient, bare and open to true love even if it doesn’t end well for her one more time.
In the second verse, she questions breezily:
“If I hand you my emotions would you even wanna take it?
If I give you all my trust, then would you fumble it and break it?
If I let you cross my finish line, would you even wanna make it?
I think I’m ready, won’t you come and flip the switch and activate it?”
At the chorus, she sings “vulnerably”:
“If I show you all my demons and we dive into the deep end
Would we crash and burn like everytime before?
I would tell you all my secrets, wrap your hands around my weakness
If the only other option’s letting go
I’ll stay vulnerable. I’ll stay vulnerable…”
How deep. How beautiful. How brave. Selena has healed. And she refuses to allow past toxic relationships or broken trusts ruin her readiness and surety in finding that soulmate of hers that would unconditionally adore her to bits.
Tah!!! So. Freakin’. Awesome!❤
Honestly, the kind of quiet strength and conviction that Selena emerged with in spite of all that she went through is nothing short of impressive. It is sooooo ENVIABLE!
4. FREEDOM: Finally reclaiming the world’s free fresh breath of air
Upon giving the album a first listen, it’s easy to think that Selena is only singing about Justin Bieber and whoever. But what a delight and pleasure to learn that Selena rather sings a whole lot more about the refreshing, lucid, transparent and liberating place that she is currently at and utterly relishing.
With the upbeat, almost anthemic “Let Me Get Me”, Selena resounds to herself that she ain’t going to let herself get herself down anymore. Onwards, she would consciously, actively preserve her regained mental and physical freedom.
“No self sabotage, no letting my thoughts run.
Me and this spiral are done…
In the dark, I’m letting go so anonymously
I guess this is what it feels like to be free.
Don’t get me down, I won’t let me get
I’m good right now, I won’t let me get me Take that tired heart and go and turn it inside-out”
Yes Selena! Yes!
In “Sweeter Place”, Selena lets us in on the sweet freedom that has been coursing through her soul now that she finally gave herself a break:
“Ooh, you’ll really wanna know where I’ve been all this time
Ooh got two feet on the ground and felt what real is like, what it was like
Livin’ out of the scene, livin’ in the wild
Learning to breath up in the clouds far from the crowd
I can’t believe I can be loud holding hands with the darkness and knowing that my heart’s allowed”
I couldn’t be happier for you, Selena. I couldn’t be happier.
In “Dance Again” she sings so freely, so exuberantly, rocking lyrics like:
“Happiness ain’t something you sit back and wait for
I kick start the rhythm
All the trauma’s in remission
No, I don’t need permission…
I kickstart my system
When I speak, my body listens
I know what I’m missing
Feels so, feels so, feels so good to dance again
With my emotions undressed I’m going in with everything to dance again…”
These lyrics just capture for me, the whole essence of the “Rare” album. It perfectly shows how Selena has been liberated by detoxing and pouring out all the hurt, pain and scars that her heart and soul had nursed for a long time. It shows how she is maximizing this new lucent space to consciously, continuously create happiness by herself and catch up on all of life’s free joy and fun adventure that she had missed out on for years (She actually calculated it to be 1,460 days in “Cut You Off”. Yes, she is that serious with this new business).
WHAT A GLOW UP SELENA. WHAT A PERFECT GLOW UP! WORDS CAN’T EXPRESS ENOUGH HOW PROUD I AM OF YOU!❤
“Rare” is certainly the album that owns my heart right now.
The new Selena is the woman I hope to grow into very soon and I’m wholeheartedly thankful to her for her bravery and strength in being deeply relatable and inspiring us to heal just as much as she has.
I know I mentioned earlier that there is nothing vocally stunning in “Rare”, which is the honest truth (thankfully Selena knows her limits and never claimed to be a Beyonce) but I must commend the production value of the album. It is so GROOVY, SLEEK AND CLEAN. And Selena was acutely affective in delivering her lyrics ( it goes on to show just how real this album is). The pain, the hurt, the internal chaos, the regrets, the regained freedom; everything HIT HOME. And don’t even get me started on the all the charismatic roasting and savagery she so ruthlessly lulled. Just go listen to “Kinda Crazy”. It is kinda crazy.
RATING:
A hearty ‘A’ (100%)
Yes. Because each lyric is that meaningful, each emotion is that stirring and each confession is that relatable. And lastly, because her self-truimph is that inspiring!
To me NOTHING ever beats a masterful fashioning of the complexity of human emotions and self-growth into Beautiful Art.
Nothing ever.
Well done Selena. And…congratulations.