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Selena Gomez: Upcoming Tour Will Be 'Like a PG-13 Rave'

Selena Gomez Talks 'When the Sun Goes Down': Video Track-By-Track

Gomez says the 12-song set, which was released last Tuesday (June 28), is also "more positive, which I haven't really done a lot of. 'Naturally' and 'Who Says,' which are my biggest songs, are both very positive, but most of my records are kind of intense break-up songs and a little bit repetitive with what I'm singing about. So I guess I'm really excited about the fact that most of (the album) is really uplifting songs about summer and being able to be present and happy with where you are and enjoying the moment. It's a really empowering record and that's just more of the place I was in, so I wanted it to be really powerful and to be something that was inspiring."

Selena Gomez: The Billboard Cover Story

The 18-year-old Gomez says that she recorded the gold-certified "Who Says," which has become the end-credit theme for her new film, "Monte Carlo," well before she started work on "When the Sun Goes Down. "It's a very powerful anthem and it's something I can relate to and it's something everybody's gone through, so I'm glad that song's out there," Gomez explains. "Fox heard the song on the radio and thought it was the perfect kind of message for our movie. I'm just glad it happened that way." She and the Scene filmed the song's video in Hungary, where she was making Monte Carlo, and Gomez recorded some of her vocals during that project as well.

Gomez co-wrote two songs on the album -- "Bang Bang Bang" and the title track, the latter with the Scene's bass player Joey Clement. Britney Spears was part of the composing team on "Whiplash," while Katy Perry and Billy Steinberg share credits for "That's More Like It." Other collaborators include Toby Gad, Greg Kurstin, Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou and Priscilla Renea. Boyfriend Justin Bieber is not on the album, but Gomez says he was "very supportive through all of the" filming and recording she was doing. Gomez is also pleased of the package art, which portrays here in a variety of vintage looks -- 20s on the cover and other eras on the inside. "My first album is a picture of my face," Gomez says. "The second album is a picture of my face. This time we wanted it to be not just me in a pretty dress. We wanted it to be really different. So the cover of the album I'm wearing a black wig and it's back-shot. People don't even recognize it's me.

Dusted Reviews: Ada - Meine Zarten Pfoten

It’s been seven years since Blondie , Ada’s first album, and two since her catchall Adaptations mixtape, but Michaela Dippel’s melodic techno sounds totally fresh on Meine Zarten Pfoten . Granted, she’s not struggling for relevance: not all that much has happened in her scene since 2004, and Blondie showed she had the full-length game down pat. This album, whose title translates delightfully as "My Tender Paws," seems to deemphasize dance at first, but Ada fans hardly need to be reminded that her appeal is hybrid: she had the gumption to cover Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ "Maps" without pandering. Her new label, the DJ Koze–run Pampa, is a friendly slap in "serious" techno’s face and among releases by Isolée and Robag Wruhme, Ada’s latest stands out as the most immediate, playful, and durable.

Ada’s mixtape pun is a good one since, uniquely for a techno producer, part of her music’s appeal comes from a nagging familiarity that’s never retro. While the rest of technodom obsesses over the peculiarities of analog gear, Ada focuses on breathy melodies that tug on your mindsleeve. Those familiar shapes are the focus when you’re listening to, for instance, Ariel Pink, but is more of an undercurrent here, and Ada further masks it with a cover you don’t recognize as a cover. Instead of filling in the colors, she tends to paint over the original song, making a quirky selection like Little Joy’s “Keep Me in Mind” (spoiler alert: it’s the album’s secret track!) seem like an original. Ada’s relationship with covers is special — for her, it’s clearly a way to bring an unexpected emotional wallop to a style of music that prizes bigger-picture goals. It takes a few repeats to realize she didn’t write the song, but by the time you’ve googled the lyrics, she’s already shored up the gap between dance and pop. Choices like these make her music feel encompassing without abandoning the anal details that make for satisfying techno.

The only flat-out unlikable Ada song to date is the Blondie vocal showcase "Who Pays the Bill," where her pinched jazz affectations and awkward lyrics ruin a just-OK production. It sounds like Ada’s more sensitive to her tone these days.

CMJ New Music Monthly

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