Stars Dance
| Selena Gomez
Stars Dance
Stars Dance is the debut solo studio album by American singer Selena Gomez. It was released on July 19, 2013, by Hollywood Records. Gomez began planning the project in 2012, at which time she announced that her band Selena Gomez & the Scene would be taking an indefinite hiatus, and continued work into 2013. She has cited artists such as Britney Spears and Skrillex as influences on the record, which stylistically features EDMand electropop music. Elements of dubstep, techno, disco and worldbeat have been noted on the album. Gomez worked with producers such as Rock Mafia and The Cataracs on the album. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Billboard
a collection of 11 shinily produced pop songs that find Gomez trying on a series of different personalities with her slight-yet-capable vocals.
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Slant Magazine
Even more problematic than the overbearing production and the general lack of standout songs is the cultural appropriation on display.
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The Guardian
On the chirpy reggae/soca number Like a Champion, her reedy vocals are a dead ringer for Rihanna's, though that's eclipsed by her similarity to Miley Cyrus on Come & Get It. Gomez's tweeny public must be starting to outgrow her, but Stars Dance is vibrant enough to keep them loyal a bit longer.
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Rolling Stone
though she nods at Rihanna-style slither and Britney-esque grind, this is the sound of Gomez gliding gracefully into adulthood.
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Sputnik Music
Overall, "Stars Dance" is a mediocre pop album that is a surprising step down in Selena Gomez's post-Disney Channel career. While there are songs to tap your foot to and plenty of choruses that will get stuck in your head, the poor songwriting and lack or originality make this album very forgettable.
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PopCrush
Her album, which is still sanitized and danceable without being edgy, is a gateway, allowing her younger fanbase to learn about synthy music.
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Muu Muse
It makes sense, then, that Stars Dance has arrived just in time to become the album of the summer: It’s a light, frothy serving of perfectly danceable pop escapism — if only until the sun goes down.
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Love is Pop
All in all, you could say that Stars Dance is a lusher, more fully realized take on the impressive pop of Selena’s last album with The Scene, When The Sun Goes Down. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s as flawless as mainstream pop albums come. No wonder it’s already winning her wider success. Stadiums, she is indeed ready for you.
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Female First
Selena Gomez is one of the few Disney starts to scathe through the transition of child star to adulthood with her reputation still intact. Gomez manages to glide elegantly into adulthood with her fourth studio album, Stars Dance.
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All Music
Stars Dance is another fine entry in her catalog and just another example of why Selena Gomez is one of the best pop stars making music in 2013.
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Digital Spy
The LP suffers from having a slightly-too-bulky tracklist; and songs like the bass-heavy opener 'Birthday' and reggae-infused 'Like A Champion' sound more like rejects from her contemporaries rather than homages. More frustrating is 'Forget Forever'; a clubby anthem with huge potential that's let down by her limited vocal range. Sadly, it's a problem that plagues much of Stars Dance.
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The Boston Globe
The whirring “Stars Dance” is a confident but not aggressively blatant move to a more grown-up pop playing field.
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Newsday
"Stars Dance" has its moments, as the singles "Come & Get It" and "Slow Down" show, but mostly it feels halfhearted and too unfocused for a franchise player like Gomez.
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Idolator
It doesn’t feel like an artistic statement; it doesn’t resemble any kind of cohesive whole; it doesn’t matter. Her fans will be satisfied. The songs will continue to demolish the dance charts, in all likelihood. Everybody wins.
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brent music reviews
It’s not necessarily that audiences ‘aren’t ready yet’ to ‘come and get’ what a more adult Gomez has to serve, but the album is flawed with often over-repetitive material, a lack of depth lyrically, and sometimes too reserved, unemotional vocals from the starlet herself.
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MIMO
Stars Dance is forgettable in its better moments, and just uncomfortable at its worst. This won’t be a career-killer for Selena Gomez, but she needs to find a way to connect to her audience in a deeper way if she’s going to come to the next level of stardom.
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Literally, Darling
In a nutshell: ‘Stars Dance’ is solid, fun, of-the-moment dance-pop. More than anything, Gomez (and her successful, steady career trajectory, wherever it takes her) continues to stand as a testament that sometimes you can really get the whole “growing up famous” thing right.
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ThomasBleach
‘Stars Dance’ is definitely Selena Gomez strongest album to date with some great pop tunes which will leave you dancing and singing along and some others which you will most likely forget about quite easily.
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The Irish Times
Stars Dance is riddled with hits, and Ke$ha probably would have murdered the last unicorn for a party anthem like B.E.A.T.
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Common Sense Media
Tired, mildly suggestive collection of generic dance-pop.
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34th Street Magazine
Unless you’re a diehard Selena Gomez fan, there’s really no reason why you should listen to her new album, “Stars Dance.” In a summer with some serious female pop starpower (see: Icona Pop, Marina and the Diamonds), this subpar album is an especially resounding dud. From top to bottom, it lacks the most basic ingredients for a summer pop hit.
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The Independent
Consisting of standard, supermarket-own-brand, sub-Britney sexpop, this album has been given to her to wear, just like a stylist giving her an outfit for a photo shoot. Even given these facts, it's a pop record, which means one killer track would redeem everything. Predictably enough, it never comes.
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Kidzworld
Her first solo album is party song after party song, with no rest, and while it isn't our fave Selena album, it's definitely worth a listen.
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Media Hype 101
It will definitely please the Selenators, but the only thing its missing is clear direction as Selena is succumbed to heavy dance beats without ever getting the chance to reveal her real-self or true emotion. ‘Love Will Remember’ is probably the only chance she gets but then again it could be that Selena’s just in a real happy dance-filled mood these days I guess.
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The Filtered Lens
Selena Gomez’s first true solo album properly threatens adulthood, but does so in bland and uninspired ways.
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San Diego Union Review
Indeed, this feels like a job. This feels like a vibrant young woman of Disney pedigree simply punched the clock and worked through an already cooked musical plot foisted upon her. Gomez might be an incredibly talented and interesting person with much to offer artistically, but we'll never find out at this rate.
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Plugged In
Her "Jelena" fan base won't find much specific dirt dished in between those beats. But the lyrics aren't nearly so vague when it comes to the sensual side of things.
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NicholasJennings.com
Gomez’ solo debut, following three albums with her band the Scene, is her most musically adventurous release to date. Exotic sounds abound, from the Bollywood-themed vibe of “Come and Get It” and the reggae-tinged “Like a Champion” to the dubstep-lite offering “Slow Down.”
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NY Daily News
Gomez's new album has hit written all over it, not because its particularly great, but because it's uncommonly craven.
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Express
The hooks are cheap (there's even a "na-na-na-naa" on there), the production so slick it may as well be a hairdryer singing and the songs generally sub-Rihanna, though Cheryl Cole is probably wishing her management had bid for the bulk of them.
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Gulf News
Selena Gomez’s first solo album Stars Dance fails to let her real musical talent shine
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Arena
Although there have been quite a few great pop records to come out this year, including from the likes of established mega stars Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez has finally emerged as a threat to their throne with Stars Dance. Shine on, Miss Gomez. Shine on.
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JSays
“Stars Dance” has the type of music you hear in the background of a club scene on TV or the big screen. Unless you need some “throw it on” music or own a dance bar, I wouldn’t spend money on it.
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Entertainment Wise
‘Stars Dance’ isn’t what you would expect from a girl who was once a Disney princess. Many often go for the bubblegum pop or the angry rock chick but the 21-year-old has opted for an edgier genre and a unique sound.
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Daily Camera
The collaborations on this 11-song set certainly put Gomez right in the heart of that scene, from the clubby flavors of “Slow Down,' “Birthday,' “Forget Forever' and “B.E.A.T.' to the Rihanna-aping bounce of “Come & Get It' and the Britneyesque swirl of “Undercover' — all tuneful and appropriate growth in her sound but also somewhat anonymous, making Gomez another indistinct voice in a crowded field without the peppy charm of her previous work.
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RTE
It all flies by in a giddy, calorific sugar rush of day-glo pop and party anthems influenced by Skrillex, factory-floor electronica and techno.
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Clubhouse News
As a mix of party tunes and songs to cry to, it’s no surprise her album recently topped the Billboard charts. But I’m here to tell you… that it was not well-deserved.
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The Brain
“Stars Dance” is exactly the kind of album one makes in 2013 if you want to keep the pop sugar of the Disney tween cabal but mix in some broken glass and a club bathroom nosebleed. Its productions are rooted in today’s pop-EDM default mode, but as that stuff goes, “Slow Down” is pretty capable, and the bhangra-appropriating “Come & Get It” is guilelessly silly enough to work.
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Little Cloud Curiosity
I would rather hear a stripped down acoustic testing the singer’s full vocal capabilities than a noisy party song where singer all but fades into the background of beats and sounds. 3/5 stars.
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Review Me Music
I have to admit, after first listening to the album I was disappointed. I am not a fan of dubstep (as you already know), but Selena Gomez did a great job by combining dubstep music with other styles and sounds. She presents more mature image and sound than earlier. Stars Dance is a good album to play at parties and to cheer up or just to listen to good music.
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NewsOK
To her credit, Gomez steers away from midtempo material and ballads until the closing and utterly forgettable “Love Will Remember,” but “Stars Dance” is puffed up with padding outside of the core tracks that works for attention.
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Mr. Will Wong
Stars Dance is a polished effort, which has Gomez where she should be – her best undoubtedly still ahead of her.
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Roman's Rap Up
To be honest, I was not disappointed with the album. I liked it more than any other album any Disney star has ever come out with, and I am proud of her that she is able to make music that she really wants.
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The Gizzle Review
Most of all this is an album of bland EDM pop, written for nobody in particular.
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HNGN
The most memorable track [from Stars Dance] is the smash opener "Birthday," a candy-coated, clap-happy club anthem with plenty of girl power and sex appeal, much like a bubbegum version of Rihanna's "Cockiness (Love It)," featuring moans mixed in with bubbly lyrics ("Jazz it up!/So yummy!") that feels fitting after Gomez's salacious role in "Spring Breakers."
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The Pop Project
The tracks on this album are very catchy, very fun and very upbeat. I know I, along with many other Selena fans will have these songs stuck in our heads for a while.
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The Arts Desk
Every song on this album could have been fronted by any number of pretty faces once it was churned out by whatever production powerhouse was in search of the next big summer club banger.
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IGN
It's mostly just trendhopping garbage. Her voice is so over-processed on the entire thing I'm still not even sure what her voice actually sounds like. It was not recognizable as even being her at many points.
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Cleveland
I feel a little dirty. Selena Gomez opens her first studio album with a tune called “Birthday’’ that features the newly minted 21-year-old moaning like a $2 hooker.
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TimeOut
It’s all a bit karaoke considering the 21-year-old singer was born and raised in Texas. And when she’s not being Rihanna, she’s being Ellie Goulding, as on the record's breathy title track where she comes close to Goulding's nasal tone. ‘Stars Dance’ is full of personality. It’s just a shame none of it belongs to Selena Gomez.
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