[渣翻] Pitchfork Reviews: Rare, 6.8/10
原文地址：https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/selena-gomez-rare/
Selena Gomez’s third album is a smooth and confident pop record that delves deep—but not that deep—into heartbreak, resilience, and self-love.
Selena Gomez的第三张专辑是一张流畅而自信的流行专辑，它恰到好处地向内探索，展示了她对在感情中所经历的心碎、从情伤中恢复，以及自怜自爱的反思。
Selena Gomez was reborn from a hermetically-sealed fantasyland back into reality when, in 2015, she released her second solo record, Revival. It was the pop star’s beginning of a transition away from Disney incorruptibility towards songwriting that better represented the crossroads at which she found herself. Unlike the overproduced electropop of her 2013 debut, Stars Dance, Revival reflected her expanding sexuality, power, and interest in telling her own stories; Gomez actualized these objectives by posing nearly nude on the album cover, serving among its executive producers, and working with specific songwriters to help translate her experiences. As she proclaimed on the title track, it was her “time to butterfly.”
当Selena Gomez在2015年发行她的第二张个人专辑Revival时，她终于从那个与世隔绝的童话世界跳脱出来，回到了现实。这是这位流行明星转型的开端，从之前Disney品牌影响力的荫蔽下跳出，转向创作路线，这也能反映在她面临选择的十字路口时发现了自己，最终遵从了自己的内心。不同于2013年的处女作Stars Dance，那张过度制作的电子流行专辑，Revival反映出她正在展现更加充满性感与力量的一面，以及她更愿意在歌曲中讲述自己的故事；专辑封面她近乎全裸出镜，尽量满足专辑执行制作人的要求，和几位词曲创作者合作，将自己的经历翻译成音乐语言等等都能证明这一点。就像她在Revival的第一首歌中说的那样，她正在“破茧成蝶”。
Over the next five years, Gomez’s journey towards emancipation would be challenged by serious struggles with anxiety, depression, and chronic illness that sidelined her music career and threatened her life. But in 2017, the same year she underwent a risky kidney transplant due to complications from the autoimmune disease lupus, Gomez shared a series of genre-curious singles including the Talking Heads-sampling “Bad Liar.” After checking the cultural pulse, the then most-followed woman on Instagram logged off, removing herself from the public eye once more. Besides popping up for the occasional movie role or fashion collaboration, Gomez focused on herself. “I just needed to let my old self go,” Gomez told Zane Lowe this month.
过去五年，Gomez的自我解放之路走得并不平稳，一直深受焦虑、抑郁、慢性病的困扰。这些问题不仅让她暂时将音乐事业搁置一边，甚至还威胁到了她的生命。但是在2017年，她发行了一系列单曲，对不同的曲风进行了好奇的探索，其中包括采样自Talking Heads的“Bad Liar”。同年，由于她所患的自身免疫病红斑狼疮病情的恶化，她接受了一个风险极高的肾脏移植手术。在短暂地把握了流行脉搏之后，这位当时在Instagram上有着最多粉丝的女生，就此从Instagram下线，再次淡出公众视野。除了偶尔出演一些电影角色和与时尚资源合作之外，Gomez将生活重心放在了自己身上。“我只是想摆脱那个过去的自己”Gomez在这个月接受Zane Lowe的专访时说。
When Gomez shared the ballad “Lose You to Love Me” last fall, it seemed like the work she put into her physical and emotional wellness had clicked. The song looks at the ways she lost herself in a relationship and solemnly promises to never make that mistake again. While dropping hints at which supposedly “Sorry” singer had been dragging her down, Gomez reclaimed her own narrative. Her anguished soul-searching struck a nerve: “Lose You to Love Me” became Gomez’s first Billboard No. 1. Though the song’s drama is an exception, its moral of losing love and gaining self is the guiding ethos of her third record, Rare. While none of these 13 songs attempt the subtle weirdness of “Bad Liar” and the emotional thesis—self-love!—can be a bit one-note, Rare is the 27-year-old’s most cohesive record to date. It feels spiritually in tune with the woman who once cheerfully told Vogue that people would be surprised to learn how much she loves “depressing things.”
Selena Gomez在2019年的秋天释出了一首情歌“Lose You To Love Me”，看起来她在恢复良好的身体和精神状态方面所做的努力终于有了一些回报。她在这首歌中讲述了自己是如何在一段感情中迷失自己，然后又一本正经地暗暗发誓再也不会犯同样的错误。除了在歌中留下线索，暗示正是那位唱“Sorry”的歌手让她消沉，Gomez也加入了不少个人视角的叙述。她在这首歌中悲伤的反思触动了很多人的心弦：于是“Lose You To Love Me”成为了Gomez第一首Billboard冠单。抛去背后的狗血情节不管，这首歌中所表达出的“适时放手、爱惜自己”的寓意俨然成为她第三张专辑Rare的中心思想。尽管专辑中的13首歌都没有尝试“Bad Liar”些许诡异的曲风，而且对“自爱”主题的演绎稍显单调，但是Rare依旧是这位27岁的歌手迄今为止整体性最强的一张专辑。这张专辑的以上特质和Selena Gomez的精神状况保持着高度一致，她曾经在Vogue采访中兴奋地说，人们将会吃惊于她对于“令人忧郁的事物”是那么的痴迷。
But Rare’s celebration of autonomy, resilience, and growth is overwhelmingly upbeat. After waving goodbye to a lover who does not respect her worth on the blissed-out self-titled opener, Gomez cleanses her heart with an electro-pop party on “Dance Again.” Dancing through pain is by now a tried-and-true motif in pop music, but the sentiment holds extra weight for Gomez, who undoubtedly knows from her lupus how it feels to be powerless over your body. But Rare doesn’t dwell on heavy realities like chronic illness or the ice-cold grip of depression or, really, any sadness lingering after heartache. When Gomez looks back on toxic relationships wracked with mistrust or self-sabotaging anxiety spirals, her perspective is more grateful than regretful, as if to say that everything in life is a valuable lesson.
但是Rare对于在感情中掌握主动权，从情伤中恢复、成长的描述又非常积极乐观。在专辑第一首欢快的同名曲中，她向那位不懂得珍惜自己的前男友说再见后，紧接着用接下来的一首电子流行狂欢曲“Dance Again”洗净了心中的不快。“带着伤痛起舞”是当今流行歌曲选题的绝对安全牌，但是这样的主题对于Gomez来说无疑更有分量：她自身患有的红斑狼疮的病痛无疑让她对于无法掌控自己身体的无力感深有感触。但是Rare并没有总是着眼于沉重的生活现实，例如她的慢性病、偶发的冰冷抑郁情绪，或者那些在伤心事发生之后久久挥之不去的悲伤。当Gomez回首那一段病态的感情，被互相猜忌和日益增强的自毁式焦虑撕扯得支离破碎，她更心存感激而非后悔不已。她似乎将生活中发生的所有事情都视为珍贵的教训和经验。
Gomez’s biggest hurdle as a musician has long been her voice. Low and breathy, her understated vocals are better suited for intimate contemplation than big, belted catharsis. For the first time, Gomez seems to have a grasp on her range and mainly sticks to a husky, bedroom-eyes murmur instead of attempting bravado. Her best performance arrives on the muted, throbbing “Vulnerable.” Though the wordplay can be a bit heavy-handed—“If I let you cross my finish line, then would you wanna make it?”—Gomez sounds firm and assured even when she dips into a whisper. Guided by a vast team of songwriters and producers including Swedish duo Mattman & Robin, Simon Says, and Finneas (of the Eilish brood), Gomez dips her toes into some du jour sounds: “Ring” does a diet-“Havana” with a “Smooth” riff thrown in for good measure; “Fun” aims for a “Bad Liar” redux with a snappy bassline, handclaps, and bubbly frivolity; “Cut You Off” plays with downtempo funk and a familiar yoo-oo-oo chorus. Notably, the songwriting duo of Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, whose melodic playfulness was all over Revival, only appear together on “Lose You” and its clubby companion single “Look At Her Now.”
Gomez在成为音乐家道路上最大的阻碍一直是她的声音条件。声音轻盈、气声明显，她柔和素净的音色更适合一些亲密暧昧的小调，而非恢宏激烈的情感宣泄。这是第一次，Gomez找准了自己音色的定位，专注于用深沉沙哑的声音唱出性感迷人的呢喃，而不是一味逞强。在那首柔和清淡但极富节奏律动感的“Vulnerable”中，她贡献出了整张专辑最好的表现。尽管歌词显得有些冷酷无情：“If I let you cross my finish line, then would you wanna make it?（如果我让你越过我的终点线，你会如何到达终点呢？）”但是当Gomez轻声吐出歌词时，她听起来却是前所未有的坚定自信。拥有庞大的词曲创作人和专辑制作人队伍，尤其是有来自瑞典的制作人组合Mattman & Robin, Simon Says, Finneas (Billie Eilish的哥哥)的加盟，使Gomez更加大胆地尝试“更有风情”的不同曲风：“Ring”除了贴近“Havana”的风格之外，还加入了清音吉他的重复乐段；“Fun”像是“Bad Liar”风格的复兴，歌曲中拥有精炼简洁的贝斯演奏段，拍手声，像泡沫一样轻盈的音效；“Cut You Off”是一首以缓速节拍推进的放克音乐，副歌依旧是熟悉的yoo-oo-oo。值得注意的是，Julia Michaels和Justin Tranter这对词曲创作组合，尽管曾经写出贯穿Revival始终的轻快旋律，这次只参与了“Lose You To Love Me”和它独一无二的姐妹单曲“Look At Her Now”的创作。
But Gomez’s malleability can also be her downfall. Though she has a writing credit on every song, a majority of the tracks on Rare’s second half feel impersonal and underwhelming. These songs feel like they could be sung by anyone, and you can’t help but wonder what Gomez saw in them. On “People You Know,” she avoids confronting any real feelings of regret by wallowing beneath a frigid, tiptoeing beat and stale chorus. The trumpet-tinged kiss-off “Kinda Crazy” feels totally inconsequential. Any reference to the relationship-in-question’s halcyon days is so submerged in tired figures of speech about fire and water that their actual separation feels anticlimactic. What is meant to be a seductive liaison on “Crowded Room”—which features a middling appearance from rapper 6LACK and borrows a feeling from Cassie circa 2006—comes off as lethargic and forced.
但是Gomez的高度可塑性也可能使她走向失败。尽管专辑中的每一首歌的写作质量都有保证，但是Rare下半张中大部分的歌都听起来非常平平无奇、索然无味。这些歌听起来像是每个歌手都可以驾驭，你不禁去怀疑Gomez是否真的从中有所体会。在“People You Know”中，她沉浸在冰冷的、蜻蜓点水般的电子节拍与令人腻烦的副歌旋律中，以此来尽力避免自己真实的后悔情绪的流露。“Kinda Crazy”中，戛然而止的结尾以小号的吹奏作点缀，显得非常没有必要。在这首歌中，她沉迷于使用水与火的比喻修辞，以此来描述一段摇摆不定的恋情中幸福温馨的时光，以至于最终这一对恋人的分手显得那么突兀。“Crowded Room”中本来最迷人最具吸引力的一段过渡——一段说唱，灵感来源于Cassie在2006年左右的作品，由说唱歌手6LACK在Gomez的唱段结束之后衔接——却显得笨重粘滞，十分勉强。
Rare’s insipid gear shift culminates with its closer, “A Sweeter Place.” Despite his brief contribution, the song feels dominated by the melodramatic-stoner aura of its guest, Kid Cudi, all Auto-Tune and heavy synths. If only the song focused on unpacking one of Rare’s most compelling—albeit cheesy—lines: “Holding hands with the darkness and knowing my heart is allowed.” Sadly, this intriguing notion of finding dignity in depression is erased by a painfully vapid chorus: “Is there a place where I can hide away/Red lips, French kiss my worries all away/There must be a sweeter place/We can sugarcoat the taste.”
Rare后半张中枯燥的曲风多元性探索终于以最后一首歌“A Sweeter Place”作结。Kid Cudi，这位耸人听闻的瘾君子，除了在曲中短暂献声之外，还仿佛使这首充斥着Auto-Tune和合成器节拍的歌曲笼罩上了他个人魅力的光芒。这首歌呈现了Rare中感情最炽烈的——尽管有些拙劣得令人发笑——的歌词：“Holding hands with the darkness and knowing my heart is allowed（手握黑暗，却知道我的心已被默许）”。要是这首歌就在此打住点到即止就好了。可惜的是，“在消沉的境遇中仍然保持自尊”这一引人入胜的主题就此终结，取而代之的是她痛心地唱着枯燥乏味的副歌：“Is there a place where I can hide away（哪里有我可以逃离的世外桃源吗？）/Red lips, French kiss my worries all away（性感红唇，法式热吻，所有的忧虑都离我而去）/There must be a sweeter place（这肯定是一处更甜蜜的地方）/We can sugarcoat the taste（我们可以给味觉包裹上糖衣）”
“Vulnerable ain’t easy, believe me, but I go there,” Gomez proclaims near the beginning of Rare. Maybe so. But it’s difficult to come away from Rare with any real perspective on who Gomez is other than that she doesn’t want to be the person she was, whoever that similarly mysterious shadow was. Unfortunately for pop stars everywhere, exposing your soul does not equal examining it. Gomez tries, but never quite succeeds at doing either here. Her introspection can only go so deep when it’s paired with sleek, easy songwriting that lets her slip by, just another specter.
“Vulnerable ain’t easy, believe me, but I go there（变得郁郁寡欢并没有那么容易，相信我，我是过来人）”，在Rare开头的地方，Gomez这样唱道。也许真的是这样吧。但是对于听众来说，不满足于仅仅了解到Gomez想摆脱过去的自己（因为所有人的过去都是相似的，是被阴霾笼罩的），而是想从Rare里窥探到Gomez当下的真实人格属实不易。不幸的是，对于当下遍地开花的流行明星来说，将自己的灵魂内核袒露在大众视野下，却并不意味着深刻地反思过自己。Gomez尝试过，但是从来没有真正地做到两者兼顾。只有当歌曲简单朴实，平滑流畅，易于演唱时，她的内省才能纵深。但是这份难得的深思却转瞬即逝，就像一个幽灵。
注：本人非英专，翻译只是兴趣所在，如有错误请在评论区指出或私信我，理性讨论不撕逼不吵架。数字评分及乐评内容代表Pitchfork观点，不代表本人观点（星级和短评代表本人观点，两者之间没有必然联系）
