“A 年 Without Rain” finds Selena Gomez (and evidently her band, the Scene) tackling a succession of standard-issue tween-pop topics: how awesome 愛 is (“Off the Chain”), how sucky bad days are (“Intuition”) and how powerless we mere mortals are in the face of the devil’s 音楽 (“Rock God”). Fortunately, the 10-track set—a huge improvement over the ディズニー Channel star’s forgettable 2009 debut—delivers these ho-hum messages in above-average packaging. Opener “Round & Round,” co-produced によって “Let It Rock” broheim Kevin Rudolf, rides a fist-pumping electro groove, while “Summer’s Not Hot” gets a gloriously trashy Eurodance chorus from RedOne, who co-wrote the song. Elsewhere, Gomez goes appealingly emo-disco on the Toby Gad-produced タイトル track. Despite the album’s title, dark clouds do appear in the form of “Spotlight,” a hookless, fake-dancehall jam, and the snoozy “Ghost of You.” But mostly, “A 年 Without Rain” is as sunny as advertised.
