Produced within an inch of its life, Gomez goes a bit harder into her club sound on "Rare", and as such loses a bit of personality in the process, as tracks like "Dance Again" and the mid-tempo 6LACK feature "Crowded Room" feel like they could've been recorded by any random Top 40 starlet. As such, "Rare" was poised to be the record that had Gomez retake her pop princess throne - and to her credit, she garnered her first-ever chart-topper with "Lose You to Love Me" - but as it turns out, "Rare" is a rehash of "Revival" in the worst way. That release netted her numerous hits, and in the years that followed, she dropped standalone singles that ranged from the stunning (the Talking Heads-sampling "Bad Liar") to the tired (the Gucci Mane feature "Fetish").
Prior to "Rare", the last full-length we got from Selena Gomez was 2015's surprising "Revival", an album that embraced a strange new kind of pop minimalism that proved to define Gomez's modern style. Hints of originality and enthusiasm peak through (like on the solid "Love to Hate Me"), but overall, "The Album" is not how we like that. While other female K-pop acts like Twice, ITZY, and Red Velvet continue to experiment and innovate, Blackpink's debut salvo feels more like the album they thought their fans wanted to hear than the one they wanted to make. Blinks will eat it up regardless, but the tired squelchy synth sounds of "Pretty Savage" and the been-there-done-that pop of "Lovesick Girls" feel hackneyed, even expected at this point. Make no mistake: their Cardi B collaboration ("Bet You Wanna") could be a massive hit single for good reason, but somehow, Blackpink is convinced that their best material is their most borderline-atonal. Yet while it's been well known that their earlier material was always stronger (see: the absolute banger that is "Boombayah"), their long-in-the-works debut full-length, "The Album", disappoints on virtually every front. The K-pop girl group with the biggest Western crossover to date, Blackpink had everything going for them heading into 2020: their biggest-ever single (2018's "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du"), superstar collaborations with Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez, actual headlining gigs at festivals - it was their moment to shine.
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