Somewhere lost in my email drafts there's a half-finished review of 2013's Stars Dance that made a long-winded attempt to declare the record a near masterpiece. As other blockbuster albums that year settled on disparate imitations, exhaustive features, and an excess of advertising loanwords (2010-2013 radio was OBSESSED with some combination of "tonight" and "live my life"), Stars Dance held on to its dance pop vision with the perfect caliber to pull it off. It was club music for lovers. Skrillex meets Britney Spears. The pop equivalent of a 5 Gum commercial. None of it mattered in the end. Stars Dance practically flopped since 2013 was also the year la maili.
2015 brings us another chance for adult Selena Gomez to have her moment, this time free from Hollywood Records, the Disney imprint that gave us all four of her previous releases. Strangely enough, these were the exact conditions that Miley Cyrus was under when "We Can't Stop" was released. The fact that "Good For You" was produced by Hit-Boy and features A$AP Rocky adds to the peculiarity of the timing.
We don't even have a video yet, but it's unlikely that "Good For You" will break the internet as Miley's once did. Gomez isn't interested in espousing Instagram/Snapchat free spirit tag lines. Instead the song is affected with (PG-13) sensuality, frozen R&B, and a whispery, barely there performance. Admittedly, we've heard this done better this year through artists like Tinashe or Korean girl group Red Velvet. And A$AP Rocky's presence just comes across as extra and outdated. But the moment Gomez sings "Trust me, I can take you there" you can't help but believe it, even for a second.
First impressions on these type of songs are nothing to take seriously. It took us practically a year to recognize the genius of "6AM" or Becky G's "Shower." Just know our expectations are there, and we can't wait to meet Selena Gomez all over again.