Revival is the second solo studio album by American singer Selena Gomez. It was released on October 9, 2015, by Interscope Records, her first album released through that label. Preparation for the album began in 2014, when Gomez left her previous label Hollywood Records. The record was influenced by a range of artists, particularly Christina Aguilera and her album Stripped (2002). Gomez co-wrote twelve of its sixteen tracks. The album reflects her journey since 2013, including the media scrutiny surrounding her personal life. As executive producers, Gomez, Danny D and Tim Blacksmith collaborated with Hit-Boy, Rock Mafia, and Stargate to achieve Gomez's new desired sound. Revival is primarily a dance-pop and electropop record, connected by a tropical beach sound, with lyrical themes revolving around love and confidence.
Upon its release, Revival received positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised its production, lyrical content, and sultry sound. The album was included in several year-end best music lists by publications. Revival debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, marking Gomez's second consecutive number-one album in the United States, following Stars Dance (2013). Elsewhere, the album also charted within the top ten of twenty territories, including Canada, Brazil, France, Mexico and Australia. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting one million album-equivalent units (including albums sales, streaming and track-equivalent units) sold in the United States.
With its singles "Good for You" (featuring rapper ASAP Rocky) and "Same Old Love" both reaching number five and "Hands to Myself" charting at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, Revival is further distinguished as Gomez's first record to house multiple top ten singles in the United States; all of which became her first three number-one singles on the Mainstream Top 40 chart.
To promote the album, Gomez performed the songs in several televised appearances, including The Today Show, the 2015 American Music Awards and the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Furthermore, Gomez embarked on a concert tour, titled Revival Tour in May 2016, which visited North America, Asia and Oceania, before it was canceled in August 2016 following Gomez facing health issues stemming from her lupus diagnosis.
The album was intended as a revival by Gomez both sonically and publicly. Acting as an executive producer for the first time, Gomez stated this is her first album where she felt fully free to decide all aspects about the project and sound, and leaned into her hidden artistry and uncharted depth without any pushback. She stated that she had developed a severe daily fear of public scrutiny after hearing discussion about "everything" and "anything” she has ever done in her life, but didn't want to live not trusting anyone and always fearing the worst.
Background In July 2013, Gomez released her debut solo album, Stars Dance. The album was well received commercially, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Gomez embarked on the Stars Dance Tour later that year, which was set to cross several continents, including dates in Asia and Oceania. These concerts would not materialize as Gomez canceled the remainder of the tour in late 2013, citing personal reasons: "It has become clear to me and those close to me that after many years of putting my work first, I need to spend some time on myself in order to be the best person I can be." Gomez entered a rehab treatment facility for her lupus diagnosis in May 2014. Publications began to speculate her intent in fulfilling contractual obligations by releasing a final compilation album for her longtime label, Hollywood Records. Later reports published in September suggested that she had secured a new recording contract with Interscope chairman John Janick. At that time, Gomez had already sold around 2.8 million albums and 18.1 million singles in the United States, including three studio albums with her band Selena Gomez & the Scene.
In November 2014, Gomez captioned an Instagram post with: "As I have a last listen, I thought a lot about my year. I thought a lot about my voice. And after a year of holding on. I think it's time to start sharing." She later released her compilation album For You, representing her final project with Hollywood Records as Gomez officially announced her change in labels the following month. After performing its lead single "The Heart Wants What it Wants" at the 2014 American Music Awards, Gomez revealed that she had begun work on her next studio album. She cited the single as a reference point, stating, "It's exciting for me to start off with something like [it]. And then start leading into writing about all the other things that are going on in my life and have gone on in the past year or so. Even if it's things that people may not necessarily know about. So I'm excited to kind of put more of my heart and soul into the next chapter of music." The same month, Gomez commented that she had been recording new music, and suggested a possible partnership with producer and disc jockey Zedd. On February 23, 2015, a collaboration between Gomez and Zedd titled "I Want You to Know" was released.
Development Gomez discussed that her new material would reflect upon the "journey" she experienced since 2013, with Christina Garibaldi from MTV News assuming her comments were referencing her former relationship with Justin Bieber, and a period spent in rehab in 2014, among other subjects. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest in June, Gomez stated, it is about her "new-found confidence". Her voice coach also commented that the album was going to be "more adult, more feminine and more about Selena's experiences."
Gomez stated that Revival offers insight into her perception of various experiences, further elaborating on its themes of kindness, having faith, heartbreak, the "passion of a relationship" as well as "being [her] own person". As the album's executive producer, she "wanted to know that every single song meant the world to me, whether I wrote it or not. For me, I had to discover what was going to separate me. I know that I'm not the world's greatest singer, but I do know that I have a unique tone. And I'm an actress—I love being able to translate everything I'm feeling inside through my voice and through the songs. [...] This whole record is extremely intimate."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gomez stated that she was influenced by a wide range of artists growing up, from Janet Jackson and NSYNC. She commented that her main influence for the record was Christina Aguilera, specifically her 2002 release Stripped, which she cites as an exemplar of a "complete" album and inspired her own decision to tell a story through Revival. Gomez further commented on her life in the media: "Now, I'm in the place of my life where I released an album at 16—nobody's going to relate [to that]. They're going to be like, 'Great, what are you singing about?' Because of how much my life was exposed, I almost had to use that for this record. People can't say, 'You don't know what you're talking about. You haven't been through this.' It's like, you’ve all grown up with me at this point!"
Recording Gomez first hinted at a collaboration with Australian singer Sia through a November 2014 Instagram post, and Sia later stated that she had composed some material for her. Gomez began to record songs for Revival in December 2014, revealing collaborations with producers Dreamlab and Ruffian and production team Stargate. She initially expected that the record would contain 15 "extremely exciting" songs. In January 2015, production duo Rock Mafia announced they were working with Gomez on the album. She explained to MTV News that Revival was the most she'd ever gotten creatively involved in album, "Every single thing I'm even remotely singing about is something I've related to and something I'm hitting the nail on, and I had to pick what was going to represent the album and who I am as a whole."
"Good for You" was one of the first tracks recorded, which was initially written by Nick Monson, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter. In an interview with Spin, Tranter revealed that their studio time was originally accommodated to "tweak" a different song, and the trio wrote "Good for You" in 45 minutes upon its completion. It was the third song she received since signing with her new label Interscope Records. Gomez exhausted herself prior to the recording session for "Good for You", as she had pressured herself into figuring out a sound and concept for the album. Gomez's vocals cracked due to this, and the song "took on this emotion [she] didn't realize [she] could tap into".
Midway through the album's recording process, Gomez went on a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with Hit-Boy and a few members of his producing team, as well as Rock Mafia and songwriters Justin Tranter and Julia Michaels. According to her, "it was all of us in one house for five or six days. We would go out, listen to live music, and go back and create in this studio – in a closet, basically." During the creative process Gomez wanted "to get out of her head." "Body Heat" was the first song that Gomez recorded on the trip; at 5. A.M. after she heard Mexican music through the night. According to her, because the "live instruments, the beats, what you feel ... It kind of represents everything that I love about who I am." While working on the album, Gomez also enlisted frequent collaborators Rock Mafia to help make her sound a reality. They assisted Gomez on the creation of six of its tracks, including "Revival" and "Kill Em with Kindness", the latter being one of the "most personal" tracks on Revival. She told the producers that although the production was important, she wanted its focus to be the lyrics. According to Gomez, one of the main inspirations behind "Kill Em with Kindness" was the body-shaming she dealt with from the media, after photos surfaced online of her in a bikini during a trip to Mexico in April 2015. Many claimed she had gained weight, with some outlets going as far as to label her a "mess", and suggested Gomez was "going off the deep end". She commented: "I was getting a lot of hate for my body and ‘you're gaining weight,’ and so I was in Mexico and I was just feeling all of this stuff and I would be lying to you if I said it didn't kind of hurt my feelings, but I kind of channeled that into my music." Gomez called the experience "degrading", explaining that she had never been through such intense bullying before. Several songs were recorded at Casa Aramara Studios located in Punta Mita. Speaking about her experience in Mexico, Gomez stated:
Gomez also worked with recording team Stargate, who handled "Sober" and "Same Old Love", the latter of which was co-written by British singer Charli XCX. XCX and Gomez weren't in the physical presence of each other during the session, though XCX's manager was present throughout. Gomez was drawn to the track and she believed "Same Old Love" represented her strained relationship with her father and how it reflected on her subsequent romantic relationships. The song's recording sessions took place at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles, and Dreamlab Studios in Studio City, California. "Sober" was also developed during this time. According to Gomez, inspiration came after she and one of its writers, Chloe Angelides, discussed social awkwardness and how Gomez "would hang out with people and they would drink and they're so fun, then the next day it would be weird."