LONDON (AP) 鈥� A lot can go wrong when a couple teams up for a collaborative album. The myopia of romance could make for unrelatable, navel-gazing music 鈥� the kind that should stay between partners instead of being shared with the world. But from the get-go, and Benny Blanco have managed to avoid clich茅. Their joint release, 鈥淚 Said I Love You First,鈥� is not the saccharine project many might've expected.
(But if you love love, this is still the ideal listen for you. It鈥檚 just also so much more than that.)
The album opens with the voice recording of a teary, young Gomez saying goodbye to the cast and crew of the that made her a household name, as cameras click. Slowly, a melancholic piano chimes in the background, bleeding into the first song: 鈥淵ounger and Hotter Than Me."
Gomez, in her whisper-sprechgesang (speak singing), instills that too familiar feeling of not fitting in, something she's vocalized throughout her career. 鈥淎ll of the girls at this party / Are younger and hotter than me," she laments. "And I hate what I wore / But I hate myself more.鈥�
It's a delicate single, a vulnerable mirror to another previously released track, the dreamy 鈥淪cared of Loving You.鈥� With a heartfelt vocal performance, acoustic guitar and a lullaby-like melody, the cozy track is a gooey reflection of the duo鈥檚 love. An album's worth of these songs would be far too syrupy, but Gomez and Blanco flip the script by playing with different music genres and adding surprising collaborations with other beloved artists.
That's evidenced in the playful pop-rock single 鈥淐all Me When You Break Up鈥� featuring and the liquid electro hyperpop 鈥淏luest Flame鈥� co-written by Charli xcx.
Elsewhere, Gomez and Blanco lean into an easy, suggestive sensuality, like on 鈥淪unset Blvd.鈥� 鈥淏ury me with roses / I know you鈥檙e awfully shy / But I can鈥檛 wait to hold it, to hold that / Big, Big / Hard heart,鈥� sings a breathy and cheeky Gomez.
It is followed by the slower and sexier 鈥淐owboy,鈥� a lusty, bedroom track that raises the heat of the album. 鈥淧ut your hands on me / Ride it like a cowboy," Gomez sings. "Run you out of town, boy / Good Lord, baby, please."
鈥淚 Said I Love You First鈥� extends beyond the famous couple鈥檚 relationship and explores various forms of love and life 鈥� the sexy, fun, despairing and messy parts of it, even performed in Spanish on 鈥淥jos Tristes鈥� 鈥� distilled into an amusing pop album.
Martina Rebecca Inchingolo, The Associated Press
