Selena Gomez & the Scene - Year Without Rain

on Transparent Ice Blue and Black Splatter Vinyl Selena Gomez's debut album wasn’t a breakout success, but it proved to be a long-running one. Indeed, when the follow-up, A Year Without Rain, was released a year later, Kiss & Tell was still riding high at number 58 on the Billboard Top 200. That album’s mix of frothy teen pop with super-catchy choruses, excellent production, and Selena’s sweet yet powerful vocals proved popular with both critics and the public. A Year Without Rain is similar in many ways but also very different in some important ways. Where Kiss was lighthearted and fun, Year is less fun and more serious both lyrically and musically. It feels like someone in her camp decided that it was time to position Gomez as more grown up, time to leave behind the sunny, good-time appeal and get a little more “real.” There are no peppy new wave or spunky emo-pop influences, only a couple songs that aren’t about serious longing and heartbreak, and an overall feel of melancholy h