Selena Gomez & The Scene - 'Naturally'
Try as I might, I just can't manage to create the right combination of circumstances for which this is the perfect soundtrack. I've tried climbing to the top of a very high hill and letting the wind whip around me while I punch the air dramatically. I've tried a midnight blast in the middle of a loud and sweaty club. I've tried headphones at dawn, ringtones in the park on a sunshiny day, a darkened room in the middle of the night, all sorts.
No matter what mood I'm in, no matter where I am, no matter what is going on around me, the reaction is always the same: a tut, an eyeroll, and a whispered "sheesh, calm down love, it's only pop music".
(. This is literally what every day is like in Camp Gomez right now.)
Now, I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with great big huffy puffy pop songs which act like the universe has just gone CLANG! like a massive gong because the singer is excited about something. Some of the best pop songs of forever have been exactly this kind of a thing.
But those are songs which bowl you over with their emotive force, songs which would sound just as devastating without the sense of sonic scale. Stripped of the enormous wind that carries this aloft, it would struggle to get more than a couple of feet off the ground, before crashing down again, bruised and sobbing.
Not that Selena isn't giving her all. She's croaking in the croaky quiet bits, bellowing in the loud mooey choruses, and even puts her acting training to good use - thanks Disney! - in trying to sell the daft lyrics.
Actually that's not fair, they're not that daft. There is a problem though. It might be the production, it might be the words, or it could be the sense that perhaps this song came out of a stack of demo CDs from songwriters, all containing minor variations on this sort of thing.
Or it could just be that there's a great big hole where this song's heart should be, or even a great big hole where MY heart should be. Who can say? Apart from a qualified doctor, obviously...
Download: Out now
CD Released: April 12th
±«Óãtv Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
PS: Look, here's Selena forcing Tom Deacon to eat disgusting things on the 5:19 Show...
Comment number 1.
At 16th Apr 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:I actually don't think this is bad for a Disney song. For me, it's catchy and inoffensive and much better than what Lizzie Maguire etc. was putting out a few years ago. 3 STARS
It's already shot into the Irish Top 10 in its first week, surprisingly.
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Comment number 2.
At 16th Apr 2010, spirit wrote:Selena will be in the UK TOP 10 this Sunday .
Naturally . . . . .
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Comment number 3.
At 16th Apr 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:In its first week of release, I was shocked when I saw Naturally debut at #7 in the Irish Charts in its first week of release. I underestimate Disney...and why didn't the far more talented Demi Lovato not crack it with her better song Remember December.
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Comment number 4.
At 4th May 2010, Dodah wrote:I saw her in America last year when she was performing at disneyland florida. I had never heard of her before but she was really good. She's so young but she is very talented and really knows how to work a crowd. I love her singing voice and listen to her music a lot now. I even am buying the same prom dress from that she wore on the cover of US teen prom. Okay maybe I'm a little obsessed!
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Comment number 5.
At 4th May 2010, CurtainJerker wrote:Hmmm. Over on the Leona Lewis review a couple of months ago, you said you were buying a dress because it looked like one she had worn at a gig in London.
And three posts, three links to the same website for buying prom dresses. Call me cynical, but...
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Comment number 6.
At 4th May 2010, spirit wrote:Hurry up and buy a Prom Dress Curtains , I have just bought 2 and there is only 1 left !
And the remaining one is in your size .
Hurry , hurry , hurry !
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Comment number 7.
At 4th May 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:To finish Curtains sentence...I think Dodah's a troll!
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Comment number 8.
At 5th May 2010, thranjax wrote:But a well dressed one!
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Comment number 9.
At 5th May 2010, jonesybcfc wrote:How many proms does this girl have?
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Comment number 10.
At 5th May 2010, Knoxx wrote:This song isn't that bad, and the remix is good too. It has grown on me. I didn't want to like it but it's really not that bad!
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Comment number 11.
At 5th May 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:Agreed, Knoxx. I think Disney are slowly starting to make good music. Then I heard Miley Cyrus' I Can't Be Tamed.
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Comment number 12.
At 6th May 2010, jonesybcfc wrote:Cyrus' When I Look At You isn't a bad song. But then as you know, I'm a sucker for a big chorus...
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Comment number 13.
At 6th May 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:Oh Jonesy, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. Miley Cyrus does not have a voice for power ballads in my eyes. Maybe a country ballad because she has that drawling quality to her voice but not a big Celine Dion power ballad like she does for I Look At You. Like listening to nails against a chalkboard.
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Comment number 14.
At 6th May 2010, jonesybcfc wrote:I did think that on first listen Randy, but after that the quality of the song as a power ballad (ish) shone through and now I kinda like her voice on it. Strange how that always happens with music eh?
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Comment number 15.
At 14th May 2010, Knoxx wrote:I can't be tamed does have a good video! If only the song wasn't so bad! The ballad is ok... just.
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Comment number 16.
At 15th May 2010, kingshleppy wrote:I really like Can't Be Tamed, think it's a nice revisit to the "in your face" type of songs she's so good at singing. For a seventeen year old I have to say she's well on her way to becoming an even better performer and I reckon her voice will lose that slightly whiney pitch to it in the future.
Plus the video is her best yet. Lots of energy, attitude and snarly faceyness!!
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Comment number 17.
At 12th Jan 2011, U14750494 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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