Welcome Back to Disney!👋😊🎉I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of Every Song from Selena Gomez & The Scene’s A Year Without Rain Album, because today we’re continuing with Selena Gomez’s Disney discography and talking all about her and The Scene’s THIRD and FINAL album together, TRULY the MOST ICONIC and MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE of theirs, When the Sun Goes Down. So, let’s get into it!🎶💿🤍🖤💜🌅
As I briefly mentioned before, When the Sun Goes Down is the THIRD and FINAL studio album by Selena Gomez and The Scene, that was released on June 21, 2011, by Hollywood Records.🎶💿🎉 Selena and The Scene worked with several artists on this album, including writers and producers from their 2009 debut album, Kiss & Tell, as well as from their second album from 2010, A Year Without Rain. Artists such as Rock Mafia’s Antonina Armato and Tim James, Katy Perry, Toby Gad, and Devrim “DK” Karaoglu. With new contributors to this album including the ONE AND ONLY BRITNEY SPEARS😮, Priscilla Renea, Dreamlab, Emanuel Kiriakou, and Sandy Vee.
This album (When the Sun Goes Down) spawned three singles. The lead single, “Who Says”, was released on March 2011, and it peaked at #21 in the U.S. and in the TOP 20 in Canada and New Zealand.👏👏 It also went Platinum in the U.S. .👏The second single, “Love You Like a Love Song”, charted in the TOP 40 in Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, and the U.S. .👏 And the third and final single, “Hit the Lights”, was released on January 20, 2012. When the Sun Goes Down debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 78,000 copies.👏 Surpassing the first week sales of Selena and The Scene’s first two albums. And in its second week, When the Sun Goes Down rose to #3.👏 When the Sun Goes Down has sold over 710,000 copies in the U.S., as of January 2020.👏 Again, sadly, this was the FINAL album released by Selena and The Scene before their indefinite hiatus.😞
After the band’s release of A Year Without Rain in 2010, apparently Selena said that she was not in a rush to release another album, but after hearing “Who Says”, she decided to begin another album release, calling the song “amazing” and crediting it for inspiring her. “Who Says” debuted on the radio show On Air With Ryan Seacrest as the FIRST single from the album.🎉In an interview with MTV News, on March 18, 2011, Selena revealed that the “third record is really fun, and there’s a song called “Hit the Lights” that I love, and it’s basically about every missed opportunity that you’ve had.” She went on to say, “But it’s also a dance track. There’s a lot more depth [on this album]”. Selena also revealed that British singer Pixie Lott and German producer Toby Gad had both penned tracks for When the Sun Goes Down, while confirming its release to be later that year. A few days later, Selena revealed that her team and the band “haven’t decided [a] title [yet for the album] and we’re dealing with the album artwork, ‘cause it is very different and I’m growing up. It’s a lot more mature”. Which, yes, as a lifelong fan of this album, When the Sun Goes Down definitely showed even more growth from Selena and the album artwork is VERY DIFFERENT in the BEST WAY. It’s SO CREATIVE and AMAZING.🤍🖤💜 MTV later confirmed that BRITNEY SPEARS had also written a song for When the Sun Goes Down titled “Whiplash”.😮🤯Which, how did I not know this before researching a few facts and history about this album for this post?!? This album was my teen-hood and I never knew BRITNEY SPEARS wrote “Whiplash”. Now I LOVE that song even more.😊 Anyway, back to some history and facts about this album.
The album’s name, When the Sun Goes Down, and the track listing were officially revealed on June 1, 2011, through Selena’s official website. After several songs from the album started to leak online, Selena posted several video messages on her official YouTube channel featuring commentaries about each song of the album. The album was then officially released on June 21, 2011 by Hollywood Records.🎶💿🎉
Musically, this album expands on the dance-pop and electro-pop themes of its predecessor A Year Without Rain, with a lighter and sassier feel. While it also incorporates electro-disco music. For example, tracks like “Hit the Lights” have such disco influence, as they pair ballad lyrics with up-tempo and mid-tempo dance music. When the Sun Goes Down also explores organic instrumentation. For instance, both the first single “Who Says” and the fourth track “We Own the Night” featuring Pixie Lott features more acoustic, indie pop sounds. Which apparently, interestingly enough, was originally intended for Kelly Clarkson’s fifth album Stronger. “Who Says” and “We Own the Night” are the only two songs on When the Sun Goes Down devoid of synthesized instrumentation.
The first song from When the Sun Goes Down, “Love You Like a Love Song”, was written by Antonina Armato, Tim James, Adam Schmalholz and was produced by Rock Mafia and Devrim Karaoglu. Serving as the second single, the song contains deep, whispered vocals and incorporates a eurodisco rhythm and a soft dubstep influence. Selena described the promotional single “Bang Bang Bang” as fun and cheeky. It is made up of 1980s electro-disco synths and sees Selena praising her new boyfriend while mocking her ex. The song was also compared to British electro-pop duo La Roux’s 2009 hit “Bulletproof”. I don’t know what that song is, but okay.👍🏻😊 “Who Says” is an acoustic self-empowerment anthem in which Selena extends kindness and sympathy to her critics while encouraging others to be themselves and not care what anyone else thinks, and it served as the album’s FIRST single. “Who Says” debuted at #24 on the Hot 100, and peaked at #21, standing as Selena and The Scene’s HIGHEST charting single in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand.👏👏👏
“We Own the Night” was written by Toby Gad and British electronic soul singer-songwriter Pixie Lott, who is also featured on backing vocals. This song has a largely acoustic, harmonic sound paired with escapist lyrics in the style of Jimmy Buffett (whoever that is), and it’s just AMAZING. “Hit the Lights”, written by Leah Haywood, Tony Nilsson, and Daniel James and produced by Dreamlab, is a dance song about overcoming fears and living in the moment. As mentioned before, BRITNEY SPEARS composed the album’s sixth track titled “Whiplash”, and it is an electro-pop song described as electro glam, that is about an intense romance, featuring transportation imagery. Obviously, “Whiplash” has gained notability for BRITNEY SPEARS’ involvement in the composition, Selena’s faux-English accent in the spoken word verse before the chorus, and for being one of Selena and The Scene’s more mature songs. To which I say, YES, YES, and YES.😊🤍🖤💜
The title track of this album features the use of electronic guitars and stuttering synthesizers. Selena once stated that, “When the Sun Goes Down” held a special meaning for her and her bass player, Joey Clement, because of their collaborative involvement in the track’s composition. As Selena once commented about the song saying, “I got to rewrite the bridge of it as well. It felt like we got to do that as a band.” While the eighth track on When the Sun Goes Down is “My Dilemma”, which is a Kelly Clarkson-esque pop rock song about conflicted feelings towards a potential breakup. The following track, “That’s More Like It”, is penned by Katy Perry and was apparently inspired by American women of the 1950s and their relegation to domesticity. As in the song, Selena demands that her negligent man does the cooking, cleaning, and housework, commanding him to “Make dinner and bring it to me.”
Lyrically, “Outlaw” is a bleak cautionary tale and revenge ballad. The lyrics also make use of Wild West imagery and references to Selena’s home state of Texas. As she sings, “I’m from the Lone Star state / I’m ready to bring you in.” “Middle of Nowhere”, is a dance-pop ballad that features electro-pop beats and synthesizers along with bells and chimes. In the song, Selena expresses that feeling of being left behind by a manipulative ex lover, for whom she made drastic personal changes for. The bridge of the song is a deep and heavily-breathed spoken-word recitation of the song’s chorus, apparently much in the style of Garbage front-woman Shirley Manson. (Sorry, but I don’t know who that is, but sure.🤔) A Spanish-language version of the lead single “Who Says” titled “Dices” is also featured as a bonus track.
Speaking of singles and “Who Says”, this album’s lead single “Who Says”, was co-written and produced by Priscilla Hamilton and Emanuel Kiriakou, and was released on March 14, 2011. “Who Says” was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, with many praising its theme of self-empowerment. Bill Lamb of About.com, at the time, even called Selena and The Scene “the most consistent Disney pop hitmaker in recent years.” “Who Says” was commercially successful, having peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and having sold over three million copies in the U.S., and it was also certified triple platinum by RIAA.👏👏👏The song also reached #17 in Canada and #15 in New Zealand, becoming Selena and The Scene’s highest charting single in those countries.👏👏 “Who Says” also managed to peak inside the TOP 50 in Germany and in Ireland, and it appeared on the main charts in the U.K., Australia, Belgium, Austria, Vietnam, and Thailand.👏
The album’s official second single, “Love You Like a Love Song” was released on June 17, 2011. And in September 2011, Selena started filming the music video for “Hit the Lights”. That video was then released in November 2011, and the song has currently attained the TOP 30 chart position in Belgium and debuted at #23 on the Canadian Hot 100.👏👏 On January 20, 2012, a remixes EP was released for “Hit the Lights”, and it was also officially released as the third and final international single. In preparation for When the Sun Goes Down’s release, Selena and The Scene’s record label decided to release two buzz singles. So, on June 7, 2011, iTunes released two promotional tracks from the album. Beginning with “Bang Bang Bang”, which peaked at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100, then followed by the Spanish version of ”Who Says”, titled “Dices”.
Like I briefly mentioned before, this album by Selena Gomez and The Scene generally received mixed reviews from “music critics”. As Metacritic, which apparently assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, When the Sun Goes Down has an average score of 58 out of 100 based on six reviews.👎Which again, apparently that indicates “mixed or average reviews”. I don’t know for sure because I’ve never been on that website, so I don’t know how it works, but according to my research of this album, that’s a fact. Mikael Wood from Entertainment Weekly once wrote, “[Gomez] sounds fully invested in tart electro-disco ditties like “Bang Bang Bang”, and that “top-shelf collaborators don’t hurt.” Tim Sendra from AllMusic, called the album “an improvement over 2010s A Year Without Rain and “fun” but felt that “she seems to be acting out the songs, more than actually feeling the emotions she’s singing about” and that “if she wants to make a real impact, she’ll need to dig a little deeper or stake out her own territory.”👎Which I agree with his first statement, but not that last one. Jody Rosen from Rolling Stone had an even more negative review, once writing that “she brings nothing in the way of personality to her songs” and that “Gomez may be the most boring teen-pop star of her generation. She makes Ashley Tisdale seem like Lady Gaga.”👎To which I totally DISAGREE. Especially with this album, Selena brings all the personality to these songs and then some, and she’s definitely NOT a boring pop star. Then or now.😊
Well, that’s enough of the negative reviews. No need to shine a light on those. All I can say is that REAL Selena fans know how AMAZINGLY GREAT and ICONIC this album TRULY is. All the reason why I’m making a post about it.😊Plus the numbers, although not the most important thing, speak for themselves. As once again, When the Sun Goes Down was released on June 21, 2011, and in its FIRST week on July 4, 2011 it debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200, having sold 78,000 copies, becoming Selena and The Scene’s HIGHEST sales week to date.👏👏👏The week after, When the Sun Goes Down rose to #3, selling 44,000 copies, making it Selena and The Scene’s HIGHEST charting album.👏👏👏When the Sun Goes Down also sold 99,000 copies in its first week in Canada, debuting at #2 on the Canadian Albums Chart.👏👏It also debuted at #2 on the Spanish Albums Chart in Spain.👏 When the Sun Goes Down peaked there for three weeks, during its debut week, and during its fifth and sixth week on the chart.👏👏👏The album also debuted at #21 in Belgium on the Belgian Albums Chart, and it jumped to its peak position at #6.👏👏 When the Sun Goes Down debuted and peaked at #6 in Mexico.👏 It debuted at #16 in Norway, and rose to its peak position at #6 in its eighth week.👏👏When the Sun Goes Down has sold over 710,000 copies in the U.S. .👏 At the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, “Who Says” won for Choice Music: Single and “Love You Like a Love Song” won for Choice Music: Love Song.🏆🏆 “Love You Like a Love Song” also won for Choice Music Single by a Group at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards.🏆
However, as I’ve mentioned many times before when talking about these albums from Disney Channel stars, the numbers, awards, 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 facts and 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 teen listening to this album for the first time. 'Cause 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.😊
This is THE Selena Gomez and The Scene album that I have the MOST SPECIAL and FOND memories of, because not only was I old enough to still be able to remember those memories now, but also because this was THE album from Selena Gomez and The Scene that I listened to the most when I was younger. This album came out when I was 14, and I vividly remember that summer like it was yesterday. Buying the CD of this album at my family and I’s local Walmart and immediately listening to it in the car.🎶💿🚗 My sisters and I were actually going to pick up our cousin Tiffany that day, because she spent a lot of nights and days with us that summer. And so I also just remember when we picked her up from her house the CD of this album was still playing during our car ride back to my sister and I’s house, and I remember being in the backseat with my cousin next to me and my sister on the other side of her, and as I was looking through the lyric book that usually came in all CDs, my cousin (Tiffany) was kind of looking at the pictures in it with me, and I remember her saying which looks and outfits she liked of Selena’s and I said which pictures I liked as well. That’s just a day and moment that I’ll never forget. And then of course I remember listening to that CD again when I got home. My sisters, cousin, and I made up dances to a few of the songs and we just jammed out listening to this album many times that summer.
So, I just have SO MANY memories of that summer listening to my CD of this album, which I still have by the way. I’ll also mention other memories I when it comes to each individual song from this album when we get to it on my ranking. But I not only listened to the CD of this album just that summer in 2011, but many years after that time, too. 'Cause it truly never gets old. It’s a CLASSIC, SO NOSTALGIC, SO ICONIC, and like I said before, this album is definitely Selena Gomez & The Scene’s BEST ALBUM. The last time I listened to this album all the way through, though, was probably just a couple years ago when my little sister (shout out to you, Amber😊) created a video ranking the exact same songs from this album for her YouTube Channel. But it’s been a while even since then, and her ranking wasn’t the songs in order as listed on the album. So, I was still very curious and EXCITED to relisten to this album again, from beginning to end, and officially do MY ranking of the songs from it. So, what are we waiting for? Hit the lights, because we own the night, and let’s finally get into A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Selena Gomez & The Scene’s When the Sun Goes Down Album!🎶💿🤍🖤💜😊🎉🌇
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🎶🤍💿🖤🎶💜💿🤍🎶🖤💿💜🎶🤍💿🖤🎶💜💿🤍🎶🖤💿
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(from LEAST to MOST FAVORITE)...
#12 "That's More Like It"
#11 "Outlaw"
#10 "Bang Bang Bang"
#9 "Whiplash"
#8 "Middle of Nowhere"
#7 "My Dilemma"
...Now, back to my ranking!:)
#6 "When the Sun Goes Down"
#5 "Hit the Lights"
#4 "We Own the Night" (featuring Pixie Lott)
#3 "Love You Like a Love Song"
#2 "Dices" (Spanish version of " Who Says")
#1 "Who Says"
🎶🤍💿🖤🎶💜💿🤍🎶🖤💿💜🎶🤍💿🖤🎶💜💿🤍🎶🖤💿
Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Selena Gomez & The Scene’s When the Sun Goes Down!🎉🎶💿🤍🖤💜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.😊
The songs from this album were the hardest to rank so far, because not only is this album the MOST NOSTALGIC to me but also EVERY song is just SO GOOD. Some more than a few, but this is TRULY an UNSKIPPABLE album. ‘Cause even the songs ranked last or lower on my ranking doesn’t mean that they’re bad, there’s just maybe one or two things I didn’t like of them and just when compared to the very BEST ones from the album they couldn’t go higher for that reason, but they’re still ALL songs I would listen to again. The songs in my TOP 7 are definitely SO, SO GOOD, and were all VERY HARD to compare against each other. Definitely the hardest ones to rank. But I feel good and solid about my ranking.😊
Overall, this album never disappoints. It was GREAT then and it’s still GREAT now. It’s SO NOSTALGIC (of being a teenager especially), majority of the songs still hold up, and it’s just the PERFECT summer album. Really what more could you ask for? I mean, who says this isn’t a perfect album? (Ha, see what I did there?😜😊) No but seriously, I will definitely be listening to this album again, and I highly suggest that you do, too.
I’m not only a little sad that this post is coming to a close, but I also can’t believe that we’ve already come to the LAST album from Selena Gomez & The Scene?!?😔They truly put out some of the BEST MUSIC. I totally understand and LOVE that Selena went solo and did her own thing away from the band, but I think it’s now time for a Selena Gomez & The Scene reunion. I mean, how FUN and NOSTALGIC would that be? Comment down below if you would also LOVE to see that, and let me know what your favorite song(s) from When the Sun Goes Down is/are. Is this also your favorite album by Selena Gomez & The Scene? Let me know in the comments below, hit that follow button so that you get notified when my next post goes up, and come Back to Disney soon for more FUN, NOSTALGIA, and GREAT Selena Gomez MUSIC!👋🤍🖤💜🎉🎶💿✌️
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