Does It Matter If ‘I Said I Love You First’?: Selena Gomez and benny blanco’s joint album

Love is a complicated act. 

There’s no set rulebook, guideline or step-by-step instruction manual to follow. Selena Gomez and benny blanco put this complication into a 14-song album — documenting moments of fear, confusion and full infatuation. 

The album opens with its title track — an audio of Gomez from the final moments of the Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place.” As she talks about growing up away from her family, her shaky voice peters out and a melancholic melody begins atop it, flowing into the second track. 

The melancholy continues into the piano ballad “Younger And Hotter Than Me.” A tale of unrequited love, Gomez’s vocals haunt the track. The album’s slow beginning provides a glimpse into the narrator’s relationship with love and the apparitions of previous partners that continue to materialize in her life. 

The album shifts tones with upbeat dance track “Call Me When You Break Up.” Featuring Gracie Abrams, the barely two-minute song races to a conclusion, leaving it unfulfilling and expeditious. Gomez sings of losing a friend to their new partner, while Abrams sings of losing a partner — their respective verses seem to be inadvertently conflicting. 

“Ojos Tristes” — co-produced by María Zardoya and Josh Conway of The Marías — covers the Spanish singer Jeanette’s song “El Muchacho de los Ojos Tristes.” Zardoya adds a new English lyric and a slightly altered Spanish perspective in the second verse to convey the passage of time. Zardoya sings in Spanish on the cover. 

“El muchacho de los ojos tristes (That boy is sad) / Ha encontrado al fin una razón (I wanna hold him) / Para hacer que su mirada ría (And seize the night) / Con mis besos y mi gran amor,” Zardoya and Gomez sing. 

After the pain and mending of the heart, “Don’t Wanna Cry Now” returns Gomez’s sound to her pop-rock roots of Selena Gomez & The Scene, with a disco influence at its tail end. 

Gomez sings of sexual vulnerability in “Sunset Blvd” before continuing into a more explicit track on “Cowboy,” which includes a spoken outro by GloRilla. The tracks display the sexual aspect of love and romance by attempting to be sensual, freeing and sexy, but the lyricism and production ultimately falls flat.

Co-written by Charli xcx, “Bluest Flame” is sonically out of place on the tracklist, but its euphoric production and catchy lyrical descriptions of a sexual encounter cement it as one of the album’s leading tracks. 

“When I lay in your arms, am I there? / When I’m lost in the garden of air / You know how it feels / Body on body, it’s you and me and it’s real,” Gomez sings. 

Reflecting on the past with a new lover, “How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten” explains the loss of previous lovers for another. Slow and repetitive, the track is the first to include blanco’s voice. Though faded in the background, his deep harmonies uplift Gomez’s lighter vocals. 

“Do You Wanna Be Perfect” is a cringe-inducing interlude. What begins as an advertisement for perfection ends with Gomez taking the mic and telling listeners to “just be exactly who you are.” 

While the lyrics are fresh, “You Said You Were Sorry” isn’t anything special. With blanco’s repetitive production style, the song is reminiscent of previous songs like “How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten” and “Younger And Hotter Than Me,” just with a slightly more cinematic outro. 

The final three tracks shift topics and production styles, confusing the listener and rendering the album’s conclusion uneasy and incomplete.

Featuring J Balvin and Tainy, “I Can’t Get Enough” is another dance track about the obsession that comes with adoration. The track is akin to a deluxe song or a single rather than an addition to the album. The penultimate track “Don’t Take It Personally” returns to the introductory melancholy, this time directed at a past lover who’s jealous of the singer’s new relationship. 

“Scared of Loving You,” the final track, returns Gomez to her Disney roots, lyrically sounding more like a Camp Rock original song than a mature, highly skilled lyricist and producer.  

Love like Gomez and blanco in “I Said I Love You First” on all major platforms.