By JENNA ETTER

Singer and actress Selena Gomez has officially started off the new year with the release of her newest album, Rare. On January 10, Gomez dropped a new 13-track album, which fans had been eagerly awaiting. According to Billboard, Gomez now has two official studio albums, however, this does not include albums from her Disney Channel days or albums released from her band, Selena Gomez and the Scene. This is Gomez’s first album drop since her previous album Revival, which was released back in 2015.

While Selena Gomez hasn’t had an album out since 2015, she has released many singles throughout 2016 all the way into 2019. Songs like “Wolves,” “It Ain’t Me,” “Bad Liar,” and “Fetish,” were all released in 2017. These songs were either written by other music artists and performed by Gomez or they were songs not included on an album. Gomez also worked with the Netflix Original Series, 13 Reasons Why, which she featured on the soundtrack with two songs, “Only You” which dropped back in 2017 and “Back To You,” in 2018. Before any talk of Rare, her newest release would’ve been her single “I Can’t Get Enough” which dropped in 2019.

Gomez set off her new album with its lead single, “Lose You to Love Me,” which was released on October 23, 2019. According to Billboard, her lead single topped the Billboard Hot 100 and was Gomez’s first number one song on that chart. “Lose You to Love Me” was also accompanied by a music video which was released the same day as the single. Since its release, the video has reached over 200 million views on YouTube with over 6.4 million likes. “Look at Her Now,” was the second single that lead up to the release of Rare. It was dropped a day after her first single, on October 24, 2019. A music video was also released along with the song. Later on, Gomez also dropped two alternative and pop up videos for “Lose You to Love Me” and “Look At Her Now.” Both are simple recordings of Gomez singing her songs. Selena Gomez was also the opening performer at the 2019 American Music Awards which took place on November 24, 2019. She performed both “Lose You to Love Me” and “Look At Her Now.”

While Rare is the album title, it is also gained recognition as the album’s title track. On the day of the release, Gomez dropped the albums third single “Rare.” This song was also accompanied by a music video, which within 2 weeks has gained over 37 million views and over 1.8 million likes on YouTube.

With Rare becoming a successful album for the singer, Billboard also predicts that it will not only top charts in America, but also in the United Kingdom. According to Billboard, Rare is making its way onto the UK Top 10 which is Gomez’s first album to achieve this. Billboard also states that as of January 14, Rare was ranked at number 4 on the UK album chart and is expected to stay near the top of the charts.