Welcome Back to Disney!👋😊🎉I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from the Wizards of Waverly Place Soundtrack, because today we’re continuing with Selena Gomez’s Disney discography and talking all about her debut studio album Kiss & Tell! I mean, it’s only one of the MOST UNFORGETTABLE, NOSTALGIC, and ICONIC albums to come from Hollywood Records. So, let’s get into it!🎶💿🖤🩷💋
As I mentioned briefly before, Kiss & Tell is the DEBUT studio album by Selena Gomez and her band (at the time) The Scene.🎶🎤💿🎸🎹🥁It was released on September 29, 2009 through Hollywood Records. Kiss & Tell is composed mainly of pop rock and electronic rock songs. With Selena once citing bands such as Forever the Sickest Kids and Paramore as influences for the album. Which, I’ve never heard a Forever the Sickest Kids song (except for that one song Selena Gomez was featured on with them), but Paramore…yes, you definitely get those vibes from this album.👍Trey Vittetoe and Ted Bruner worked extensively on this record with Selena, having produced many of the tracks. Selena also worked with Gina Schock on several songs for this album, while Rock Mafia produced two of the tracks on the album.
Apparently, Kiss & Tell received mixed to positive reviews from music critics upon its release.👍👎As some critics praised the album’s “fun” nature, while others criticized Selena’s vocal performance.👎(How dare they?) Gina Schock’s work on the album, however, received praise from multiple critics. Despite the critics, or shall I say, in spite of the critics, the album was a commercial success and clearly favored by her fans. As it entered the TOP 10 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. .👏Kiss & Tell went on to sell over 900,000 copies in the country, making it the band’s best-selling album to date.👏 It was also later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).👏The album also entered the TOP 20 in the U.K., and was Selena’s highest-charting album in the country until her 2015 album, Revival.👏👏
The album was heavily promoted through the Disney Channel. In August 2009, Kiss & Tell was preceded by the lead single “Falling Down”. “Naturally” was then released as the second single, and is often regarded as the band’s breakout hit. Which it definitely was, because I honestly always forget that “Falling Down” was the first single and music video that was released from this album, because I just remember in 2009 “Naturally” playing all the time during commercial breaks on Disney Channel. So I've always just seen that song as the lead single even though it clearly wasn’t. Although, as you’ll see in my ranking below, (SPOILER ALERT) “Naturally” is still my FAVORITE song of the two, but they're both GREAT songs.😊 But anyway, “Naturally” peaked inside the TOP 10 of countries such as the U.K., and it was promoted mainly through televised performances, with Selena Gomez and The Scene appearing on shows such as Dancing with the Stars to perform songs from the album. Selena and her band also toured throughout the U.S. in 2009 and 2010, on their Selena Gomez & The Scene: Live in Concert tour, performing both new and old songs.
As you probably already know, Selena Gomez became heavily involved with the Disney Channel in 2007, starring on her own sitcom and making various appearances on soundtracks and on other Disney Channel shows.📺🎶🎤💿She also contributed multiple songs to the soundtrack for her 2008 film, Another Cinderella Story.💛🩷👑📺One song of which was released as a promotional single. In July 2008, Selena Gomez announced that she had signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records.🎉A label who most notably had also signed other Disney acts such as Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato. However, differing from those Disney Channel solo artists, Selena also revealed to MTV News at the time that she hoped to start a band as opposed to having a solo career. So, she held auditions to find members for her band in Burbank, California. In which Greg Garman was selected as the band’s drummer🥁, Joey Clement played bass guitar🎸, and Dane Forrest and Nick Foxer both played the keyboard🎹, with Nick also providing background vocals🎤. However, the following year, Nick ended up departing the band for unknown reasons. Where then Ethan Robers played both guitar and provided background vocals🎤🎸. With over one-hundred songs being considered for the album, Selena Gomez actually worked on this project for over a year. She (Selena) once later stated that she went through so many tracks to ensure that both she and her fans could “relate” to the material. In August 2009, Selena officially announced the band’s name to be Selena Gomez & The Scene, apparently stating “I named my band The Scene because a lot of people are making fun of me calling me a ‘wannabe scene’, so I thought I would poke fun [at] that. If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em!” 👏
While recording this album, Selena also began to learn how to play the guitar and drums, and later began to learn how to play the piano and take vocal lessons.🎸🎹🥁🎤 She also once stated that she hoped to “make people dance” with the music on the album. Which, as a lifelong fan of this album, she definitely accomplished that.👍😊Selena wrote a song titled “I’m Sorry” for this album, that was reportedly inspired by her relationship with Nick Jonas. She (Selena) once claimed that it would be the first song recorded for Kiss & Tell, and that it would be the only ballad featured. But there are actually a couple of other ballads also featured on this album, those two songs being “The Way I Loved You” and “I Promise You”. But that song (“I’m Sorry”), apparently about Nick Jonas, was included on Kiss & Tell but was renamed “I Won’t Apologize”. Selena also recorded a song titled “Beautifully Disturbed”, which she revealed in May 2009. About that song, Selena once said that “it’s definitely a song that’s close to me because it’s a nickname I was given and it’s very sweet. It means that sometimes I can be negative like every person can be, but you’ve got to find the beauty in that.”🤔 However, that song was not included on Kiss & Tell’s final track listing. Which, I never heard about that song and story until now when researching about this album, and I’m now very curious to hear that song.
As I also briefly mentioned before, Selena worked extensively with Trey Vittetoe and Ted Bruner on this album, who she claimed produced “the core” of it. She also worked with The Go-Go’s member Gina Schock on numerous songs. Four of which were included on the album. And she (Selena) also worked with Rock Mafia on the hit song “Naturally”, which was the first of many collaborations between the three. “Falling Down” featured writing and production credits from Gina Schock, Ted Bruner, and Trey Vittetoe. “I Won’t Apologize” was actually written by Selena, and is her only writing credit on Kiss & Tell. Once during a live performance, Selena said about the song (“I Won’t Apologize”), “I wrote this song because I feel like a lot of people tend to change themselves for - let’s be honest - a boy; and that’s what I did; and I never want to make that mistake again now. I’m sorry, I’m not what you wanted me to be, but I’m not gonna apologize for who I am.”👏👏 And she (Selena) later cited “I Won’t Apologize” as her favorite song on Kiss & Tell. As you will see, it is also one of my MOST FAVORITE songs from the album, too.🖤🩷
The BANGER “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” was originally released as a promotional single by Selena in 2008, with Rock Mafia remixing the song from the Another Cinderella Story soundtrack for its appearance on Kiss & Tell. Selena once cited herself as a “huge” fan of Canadian singer Fefe Dobson, and later included a cover of her song “As a Blonde” on the album. Selena also once cited “Crush” as one of her other favorite songs on Kiss & Tell. And just another little fun fact, “Falling Down” and “Stop & Erase” actually ended up being the FIRST two songs added to this album.😮🩷🖤
As I also mentioned briefly before, the music found on Kiss & Tell is composed mainly of pop rock and electronic rock music. Selena Gomez, herself, once described the album as being “fun pop-rock” with “a dance beat to it.” Which it definitely is. But the album incorporates a wide variety of musical genres into its composition such as pop punk, mid-tempo bubblegum pop, Latin-influenced dance, techno and new wave. Lyrically this album focuses on topics of love, heartbreak, fame, freedom, among other things. As Selena once said that this album was “what [she’s] gone through with heartache, friendships, and things like that. I want my fans to know me a little bit better after they hear this record.” Selena also felt that Kiss & Tell was a “good start” to figuring out “where [she] wanted to be musically.” Again, with artists such as Paramore and Forever the Sickest Kids cited as influences on the album.
Another fun and interesting fact, is that Kiss & Tell was apparently initially slated to be released in July 2009, but it was pushed back for unknown reasons. In August 2009, Selena officially confirmed the album’s title to be Kiss & Tell on Twitter.🎉🖤🩷Leading up to the album’s release, Radio Disney aired one song per day, with the songs “Kiss & Tell”, “Naturally”, “Crush”, “I Promise You”, and “More” making their premiere on the station. On September 26, 2009, is when the full album premiered on Radio Disney, with a re-broadcast the following day. And on September 29, 2009, Kiss & Tell was released physically and to digital retailers in North America.🎉 Selena also filmed a mini-series during the recording of Kiss & Tell that chronicled the recording of the album, band auditions, and the photo shoot for the album’s artwork. The eight episodes were posted on Selena’s official YouTube channel and are still available to watch. The Target exclusive version of Kiss & Tell also featured a special video chronicling the creation of the album. Following the success of the album’s second single “Naturally”, Kiss & Tell was not released in countries such as the U.K. and Japan until 2010.
When it comes to the ICONIC and GENIUS album artwork, the main cover for Kiss & Tell is a close-up of Selena with a pink heart made of rhinestones covering her lips.💋🩷🖤Selena once stated that the idea for the cover was all hers, and that she wanted the album to have a colorful cover. However, the album’s packaging in European territories saw a different cover, with this one seeing Selena pose with a red polka-dot wall behind her. The Japanese edition also features a different cover, which is a close-up of Selena’s face with a dark background. But all three of the album covers feature the same logo, which is a heart in the center of “Selena Gomez & The Scene”.🖤🩷 The back cover of the album sees Selena with her band in the background, and features minimal coloring in contrast to the front cover, with the text listing the songs on the album written in pink. The album’s booklet also features various colors and themes, and focuses mainly on Selena as opposed to the full band. The shots in the booklet are very fashion-oriented, too, with Selena sporting various dresses and outfits in the images. TRULY AMAZING and ICONIC.🩷🖤And I will say, all of Selena Gomez’s album covers, booklets, and music videos are VERY CREATIVE. She has some of the BEST and just MOST CREATIVE visuals when it comes to those things. I just LOVE it all so much. It also just shows that she really cared and put her all into her music and these albums.
Which album cover do you prefer?
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Again, when it came to promotion for this album, Kiss & Tell received much promotion through Disney Channel and Radio Disney, the former of which aired the band’s music videos. On September 29, 2009, Selena Gomez and The Scene also had their FIRST televised performance on Dancing with the Stars, where they performed “Falling Down” while Derek Hough and Karina Smirnoff performed a choreographed dance as the band played the song. Selena Gomez and The Scene were selected to be MTV Push artists, and performed “Falling Down”, “Naturally”, “Kiss & Tell”, “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”, and “The Way I Loved You” in an online concert. Multiple songs from Kiss & Tell were also performed at the 2009 Teleton in Mexico. On January 1, 2010, Selena also performed “Naturally” and “More” on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. In which she also appeared on stage with Justin Bieber while he performed his ICONIC and UNFORGETTABLE song “One Less Lonely Girl”.💜🤍 In February 2010, Selena and The Scene performed at PopCon, also where Justin Bieber performed. And on February 11, 2010, “Naturally” and “More” were once again performed by Selena and The Scene on Good Morning America. During the week of Kiss & Tell’s release in the U.K., Selena and The Scene went on a promotional tour in the country. On April 5, 2010, Selena and The Scene performed “Naturally” on GMTV and again on Studio Five the following day. And in 2009, Selena and The Scene embarked on their Selena Gomez & the Scene: Live in Concert tour. In which they performed all of the album’s tracks, except for “As a Blonde” and “I Got U”. That tour had 19 shows, consisted mainly of fairs and festivals, and spanned from November 2009 to October 2010. There were an additional four shows to the concert that were cancelled due to illness, and later dates of the concert saw Selena Gomez and The Scene performing songs from their then-unreleased sophomore album. The tour overall was a financial success.
In August 2009, “Falling Down” was released as the lead single from Kiss & Tell. The song was not released for radio airplay, although it was heavily promoted through the Disney Channel. “Falling Down” received a generally positive reception from critics, although it apparently failed to have commercial success in North America.😞👎 As of 2014, the song had sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S. .👏It also went on to reach the TOP 20 in Japan, peaking at #15.👏🗾In December of 2009, "Naturally” was released as the second and final single from the album. The song also served as the lead single in most European territories, and went on to become Selena and The Scene’s first major hit.👏The song had success on radio and with sales also due to heavy promotion of it through Disney and televised performances.👏 “Naturally” also had mainstream success in multiple countries, and is often considered Selena and The Scene’s breakout hit.👏
Like I mentioned briefly before, Kiss & Tell received mixed-to-positive reviews by music critics.👍👎For instance, Bill Lamb of About.com gave the album a generally positive review worth noting here, stating, “There is an energy and excitement here that is positively infectious. The lyrical subjects here are no surprise for a teen artist, but it is Gomez’s delivery that makes the music fresh and fun.” To which I also agree with that when it comes to this album. Tim Sendra of Allmusic also described Kiss & Tell as “near-genius modern pop” which “show[ed] off Gomez’s light but surprisingly soulful vocals in a near-perfect setting. The producers and writing teams involved frame Gomez as a tougher, sassier version of the usual tween pop singer and keep the sappy ballads to a bare minimum.” To which I also mostly agree, except for that last part. Give me all the ballads because I LOVE a good ballad, and this album has some great ones. BBC News in Great Britain also praised Kiss & Tell, describing it as “fast and full of energy.” Which is also so true. And they went on to praise “Crush”, “I Promise You”, and “Falling Down”. All GREAT songs that I enjoy, too. Bob Smithouser of Pluggedin felt that Kiss & Tell had a “sassy pop-rock” sound, and added that “she spends much of [the album] ranting, venting and assuring those self-absorbed, two-timing cads that she’s already over them.” As she should.👏😊And Sputnikmusic praised tracks such as “I Got U” and “Kiss & Tell”, though criticized the music videos for “Falling Down” and “Naturally” for being too boring.😮👎 To which I say…WHAT?!? Boring?!? The music video for “Naturally” is far from boring, and “Falling Down” although not as good is still a great music video. So, I totally disagree with that last statement. And then there’s no need in me including some more of the negative reviews about this album, because who cares what the critics have to say anyways. Real fans know how GREAT this album truly is.😊🖤🩷
Plus, with first week sales of 66,000 copies, Kiss & Tell debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. . 👏Although, during the album’s second week of release, it dropped to #25 on the chart. But in February 2010, it was reported that Kiss & Tell had sold an estimated 387,000 copies in the U.S., after having spent 18 weeks on the chart.👏Also, as I briefly mentioned before, Kiss & Tell was certified Gold by the RIAA in March of 2010, indicating sales exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. .👏It also spent a total of 59 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.👏Which, again, was Selena’s longest charting record until Revival (2015).👏 Kiss & Tell also appeared on the Billboard 2009 Year-End chart at #187, after having been released three months prior.👏 That following year, Kiss & Tell appeared at #47 on the chart.👏And the album has sold over 924,000 copies to date.👏
Kiss & Tell also debuted at #22 on the Canadian Albums Chart.👏And it went on to sell over 40,000 copies in the country.👏 Earning it a Gold certification from the CRIA.👏 The album remains Selena and The Scene’s only album to not enter the TOP 10 in the country. But propelled by the TOP 10 success of “Naturally”, Kiss & Tell entered the U.K. Albums Chart at #12.👏 The album sold over 60,000 copies in the U.K., earning it a Silver certification from BPI.👏👏 Kiss & Tell had a similar performance in Ireland, when it reached #14 on the chart.👏And even though the album failed to chart on the ARIA Charts, it did chart on the component Australian Hitseekers Albums Chart at #4.👏 The album also peaked at #21 in New Zealand, which was Selena and The Scene’s only album to peak outside of the TOP 20.👏Led by the sudden radio success of “Naturally”, Kiss & Tell also entered at #19 in Germany.👏It also peaked at #10 in Argentina, and earned a Gold certification.👏👏
Again, as I’ve mentioned many times before when talking about these albums from Disney Channel stars, the numbers and all that chart stuff really means nothing to me, but they were wins for Selena and therefore something I thought was still worth mentioning here. But those statistics did not make me enjoy this album any more or any less than I did before doing this relisten. Nor did they affect my thoughts and opinions about the album back then, when I was a kid/tween/teen, because I never looked at that stuff back then either. I’ve always just LOVED this album for what it is, and that’s why I am SO EXCITED to finally get to talk about the songs from this album and share my ranking of them here with you.😊🩷🖤
But first, before we really get into the songs from this album and my ranking of them, as always, I want to just give my brief history and memories associated with this album.😊So this album came out in September of 2009, but I have a vivid of it being my birthday and putting the CD of this album in a radio my sisters and I had in the basement of our childhood home, and my sisters, cousin and I, and whatever other kids were there for my party danced and sang along to "Naturally". Of course, because everyone knew that song. I remember us all doing the circle hand movement thing that Selena does in the music video (iykyk), because we thought that was so cool.😂 But my birthday is in March, so just really thinking about it now, I guess I got the CD of this album in March of 2010. Unless, I was actually gifted it for Christmas, or just bought it myself some other time later in 2009?🤔But, yeah, so I don’t remember exactly when I got the CD of this album, but I do remember getting it and having it somehow as a tween/teen, and I LOVED it.💿🖤🩷
At that time I really just loved any song from the CD that I saw played continuously on Disney Channel during commercial breaks, which would have been “Naturally” and “Falling Down”. But also, Another Cinderella Story was one of my FAVORITE movies at the time, so I know I also LOVED “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”. So, those are three songs from this album that I know I listened to on repeat a lot. And I’m sure I also went and listened through the whole CD from beginning to end then, too, when I first got this CD. Even though I have no specific memory of doing that. But that’s what I would usually do whenever I would get a new CD from my favorite artist when I was a kid/tween/teen, which was listen to it from beginning to end in my room or some room in my house in my little radio that I had, or in the big stereo that my ex-mom had at the time.
Having said that, this album truly never gets old. As I kept that CD and listened it many times throughout the years after that, too. In fact, it actually wasn’t that long ago when I last listened to this album, the exact CD I got when I was 12 or 13 . As I mentioned in my last post, I’m pretty sure when I put in my Wizards of Waverly Place CD to listen to for fun when I was 25, I also put in my CD of Kiss & Tell and listened to all the songs, too. But it’s been a little while even since then. So I was still very excited and curious to relisten to this whole album from beginning to end. And I’ve been wanting to do this post for so long now, therefore I’m also just VERY EXCITED that I was finally able to get this posted. So, what are we waiting? Let’s finally get into A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Selena Gomez & The Scene’s Kiss & Tell Album!🩷🖤💋🎶💿🎉
🎶🩷💿🖤🎶💋💿🩷🎶🖤💿💋🎶🩷💿🖤🎶💋💿🩷🎶🖤💿
🎶🩷💿🖤🎶💋💿🩷🎶🖤💿💋🎶🩷💿🖤🎶💋💿🩷🎶🖤💿
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🎶🩷💿🖤🎶💋💿🩷🎶🖤💿💋🎶🩷💿🖤🎶💋💿🩷🎶🖤💿
Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Selena Gomez & The Scene’s Kiss & Tell Album!🎉🎶💿 I really enjoyed getting to go back and listen to these songs and reminisce about the memories I have of them. And I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did creating it, and that it also brought back some FUN, NOSTALGIC memories for you, too.😊
It was actually much harder than I thought it would be to rank the songs from this album, because there really are SO MANY good songs on it and they're all pretty different. It was a little surprising too, because a few of the songs that were my favorites as a tween/teen are not so much my favorites now. I feel good about my overall ranking of these songs though. Especially my TOP 6. 'Cause those are definitely some of the BEST from this album. Overall, I would say that this album still holds up…Well, most of it. Just not the song “As a Blonde”…and Kiss & Tell is definitely one of Selena’s BEST albums. Definitely one of the MOST NOSTALGIC ones.
Having said that, I will definitely be listening to this album again, and I would highly suggest everyone to do the same. Especially all the girls reading this. And, well, I can’t wait to talk about Selena Gomez & The Scene’s next album. So, make sure you hit that follow button to get notified when that next post goes up, comment down below what your favorite song(s) is/are from Kiss & Tell, and come Back to Disney soon for more FUN, NOSTALGIA, and just GREAT Selena Gomez MUSIC! 👋🖤🩷💋🎉🎶💿✌️
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