Selena dances to stardom

If you are among those who still see Selena Gomez as just this girl from the Disney Channel who became Justine Biber’s girlfriend, let me tell you that it is now time to change your mind. She is still from Disney where she starred in the popular series Wizards of Waverly Place for several seasons and she will always be the Biber’s ex. But she has now transcended those tags and she is aiming for higher or I should say about to reach the highest stars.

Driving her to that goal is her new album, Stars Dance. This is Selena’s fourth release after Kiss And Tell, A Year Without Rain and When The Sun Goes Down. It is also her best and her vocals are at their most appealing, auto-tune notwithstanding. It has pretty commercial melodies and somewhat suggestive lyrics that her fans will surely enjoy relating to her personal life. Best of all though, the songs make up a veritable dance fest. This is the sort of album you can put on the player and it will let you dance the night away.

Doubtless because the CD was released in time for her 21st birthday last July 21, the first cut is titled Birthday. It makes for a strong opener but is actually just a prelude to the better songs that later come one after another. The very likeable Slow Down and Save The Day top them all. Both have no pretensions, just simple singing to a lilting beat with sexy lyrics. Title track Stars Dance is also very good. It slows down the tempo a bit and allows Selena to be her cute, old self again for a while. This is also what happens with Like A Champion. It is simple but cute and that fun Latin accent she puts on in the song is a winner.

Then there are the also infectious tabloid tunes like Come And Get It where she sings, “This love will be the death of me, but I know I will die happily.” Read what you will in those lines and allow the girl to make some cash out of a very public heartbreak. Maybe you can also do the same in Forget Forever, which is about, “Our love was made to rule the world.” I hope she is not doing what Undercover says, “You don’t need no other lover, we can keep it undercover.” She has no need of Bieber anymore at this point. Just savor the memories, girl, just like what Love Will Remember says, “We lit the whole world before we blew it up, I still don’t know just how we screwed it up.”

Judging from the way Stars Dance sounds, Selena maybe lovelorn but definitely knows where she is going. The career path she has been handed is that of a young Jennifer Lopez. Great peg, although I must say that she sounds better than the J.Lo ever did during those early days. Take note that like J.Lo, Selena is of Latin descent and is also very beautiful. I am sure that she will also be named the Most Beautiful Girl in the World in the very near future. Take note, the CD comes with a thick booklet of a truly gorgeous Selena. 

For now though, all eyes and ears are on the very enjoyable new album. With the strong showing in the charts of Stars Dance, it made No. 1 in the Top 200 Albums list, I am sure that Selena Gomez has now earned the privileged of being ranked alongside today’s hottest, hit-making young divas like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and fellow Disney princess Miley Cyrus.

Stars Dance remains in Billboard Magazine’s Top 200 albums list after four weeks out in the market. Here are last week’s Top 20 CDs in the tabulation: Crash My Party by Luke Bryan; Rebellious Soul by K. Michelle; Now 47 by Various Artists; Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke; The Civil Wars by The Civil Wars; Magna Carta…Holy Grail by Jay Z; Teen Beach Movie, the motion picture soundtrack; Here’s To The Good Times by the Florida Georgia Line; Night Visions by Imagine Dragons; The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell: Volume 1 by the Five Finger Death Punch.

Based On A True Story by Blake Shelton; Kidz Bop 24 by the Kidz Bop Kidz; Unorthodox Jukebox by Bruno Mars; The Heist by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; Overnight by Parachute; Tailgates & Tanlines by Luke Bryan; The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake; Stars Dance by Selena Gomez; Hunter Hayes by Hunter Hayes; and Born To Die by Lana Del Rey.