As Selena Gomez released her heavily-anticipated sophomore album, Rare, she did a press interview with WSJ Magazine, in which she made comments about some of her earlier work.
Specifically, when talking about the highly successful, cult-favorite dance single, “Come And Get It”, Gomez said “That’s so not my personality. The lyrics are, ‘When you’re ready, come and get it.’ I would never say that!”
Now, it’s not at all uncommon for child stars to denounce their old music, especially if they’re from Disney or Nickelodeon fame. We’ve seen Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers all make sly comments rejecting very early works. Even Ariana Grande’s debut single, “Put Your Hearts Up”, saw the pop star openly and passionately reject it. In an interview with Radio Disney, Ariana said: “I hate that song with a burning passion, a burning passion of a thousand suns”.
So, why do stars hate their old work?
Well, it’s not uncommon to see this rejection with pop stars who were once a child star. This is because of the immense pressure placed on them by their music label, in addition to the pressure of keeping up a cookie-cutter, clean “image”. Thus, there exists this tension of making music that doesn’t reflect that of the artist’s personality but does reflect the ideal pop-image that labels and TV studios want to make. Moreover, it’s those songs that connect with the fans.
So how does it feel when an artist rejects a song that you once connected with? Well, it’s not great. As someone who loved “Come and Get It”, “Give Your Heart A Break” and Camp Rock, it was sad to see these stars reject that work.
Ultimately, artists grow out of phases and grow into themselves more as they evolve. But, just because they evolve, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have to reject their old selves.
Take Kylie Minogue for example, instead of rejecting her past, she openly embraces it. She’ll belt out “Locomotion” at a live show, she defends her Neighbours era and she even went on Kath & Kim to play a parody of herself because she is so confident in herself.
In a way, a musician’s discography is like a family photo book: there are going to be haircuts and phases that really didn’t suit, but at the time it was absolutely everything. And regardless, if the artists have moved on, there will still be people that are influenced by their early work.
Bottom line is, be more like Kylie! Embrace the past, because we loved it. We know you’ve moved on, just let us enjoy your old stuff!
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