Selena Marie Gomez was born on 22 July 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, to a 16 year old mother, and the family had financial troubles throughout Gomez's childhood, with her mother struggling to provide for the pair. She first gained an interest in pursuing a career in entertainment watching her mother prepare for stage productions, and in 2002, she began her acting career on the children's television series 'Barney & Friends, portraying the character Gianna. She appeared in thirteen episodes of the show between 2002 and 2004, after which she was dismissed as she was "too old" for the series. In 2007 she was given a recurring role on the Disney Channel series 'Hannah Montana', as pop star Mikayla, and she later auditioned for a role in the network's series 'Wizards Of Waverly Place', ultimately winning the lead role of Alex Russo. 'Wizards Of Waverly Place' saw Gomez playing a teenage girl in a family of wizards who own a restaurant in New York City, and it quickly became a success for the Disney Channel, and marked Gomez's breakthrough into the mainstream. Following her appearance in the teen musical comedy film 'Another Cinderella Story', she contributed three songs to the soundtrack, including the single 'Tell Me Something I Don't Know', which became her first entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. She also recorded the song 'Fly To Your Heart' for the soundtrack of the animated 2008 film 'Tinker Bell', and that same year, at age 16, she signed with Hollywood Records, and formed her own production company, July Moon Production. Her film and TV career continued throughout 2009, and hoping to cross over into the music industry, she formed the pop rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene through her record deal with Hollywood Records.
The group's debut studio album, 'Kiss & Tell', influenced by pop rock and electronic rock, was released in September 2009, and it debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the U.S. with first-week sales of 66,000 copies. It received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its fun nature and others criticizing Gomez's vocal performance, and although the lead single was not commercially successful, the second single, 'Naturally', became a breakthrough hit, reaching number twenty-nine in the U.S. and number seven in the United Kingdom. In 2010, Selena Gomez & the Scene released their second studio album 'A Year Without Rain', which debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number four, and once again it received mixed to positive reviews, with some critics reacting negatively to Gomez's Auto-Tuned vocals. The band's third and final studio album, 'When the Sun Goes Down', was released the following year to the usual mixed reviews, and the album's lead single, 'Who Says', was the band's highest charting effort, peaking at number twenty-one in the U.S. Gomez confirmed in January 2012 that she would be taking a break from music, placing Selena Gomez & the Scene on hiatus, and for the next twelve months she concentrated on her axcting, but despite earlier claims that she would be taking a break from music, she released 'Come & Get It' as the lead single from her debut solo album in 2013.
It became her first top-ten entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching number six, and the 'Stars Dance' album was released in July, debuting at number one in the U.S. The mixed reviews continued, with critics this time commenting on her inability to create her own musical identity and panning her vocal abilities. In April 2014, Gomez fired her mother and stepfather as her managers, as she wanted to find fresh handlers as part of a strategy to "move on into more adult-oriented fare in film and music", and with her contract with Hollywood Records coming to an end, she surprise-released her new single 'The Heart Wants What It Wants' in November 2014. To complete her contract with her label, they released her first greatest hits album, 'For You', after which she officially parted ways with Hollywood Records and later signed with Interscope Records in December 2014. While working on her second studio album, she collaborated with German DJ Zedd on 'I Want You To Know', released in February 2015, and she followed this in June with 'Good For You', featuring rapper ASAP Rocky, as the lead single from her second studio album. Gomez released her second studio album, 'Revival', in October 2015, and its dance-pop and electropop vibes were finally reviewed positively by critics, who praised its production and lyrical content.
Gomez embarked on her worldwide Revival Tour in May 2016, which focussed solely on her as an artist, and featured less choreography and fewer effects than her previous tour. She Gomez began working on her third studio album while touring, and added a new song titled 'Feel Me' to the setlist of her Revival Tour, with the song later being released in February 2020, due to high demand from fans. After touring in North America, Asia and Oceania, she cancelled the European and South America legs in August 2016 due to anxiety, panic attacks and depression caused by her lupus, and following the cancelation of her tour, she rechecked into rehab to focus on her mental health, and was noticeably absent from social media. After being absent from the public eye for four months, she triumphantly returned to the spotlight by appearing at the American Music Awards where she was nominated for Favourite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Artist of the Year, the first of which she won. In February 2017, Gomez and the Norwegian DJ Kygo released a single together titled 'It Ain't Me', which reached the top ten of most major music charts worldwide, including the U.S. and the U.K.
In May she released the single 'Bad Liar' to universal acclaim from music critics, with some deeming it her best song to date, and she followed this with 'Fetish' featuring rapper Gucci Mane two months later. In October 2017, Gomez and EDM producer Marshmello released the single 'Wolves', which was another commercial success, and in May 2018, the single 'Back To You' was included on the soundtrack of the TV series '13 Reasons Why: Season 2', but the third album remained elusive, and was nowhere to be seen. In October 2019, Gomez released 'Lose You To Love Me' as the lead single from her third studio album, and the next day, she surprise-released the album's second single, 'Look At Her Now', with the album 'Rare' following in January 2020, becoming her third consecutive number-one album in the US. In 2017 she was photographed wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the legend Seven Heavens, and this was taken to be the title of her third album, which was expected to come out in 2017, but as it appeared to have been put on the back-burner until she re-appeared in 2020, then I've collected all the songs that she recorded for it and have constructed her actual third album from 2017, now titled 'Seven Heavens'.
Track listing
01 Fetish (feat. Gucci Mane)
02 Bad Liar
03 Strong (feat. Justin Bieber)
04 P.O.S.E. (Praise On Someone Else)
05 Kinda Crazy
06 Stained
07 It Ain't Me (feat. Kygo)
08 Feel Me
09 Back To You
10 Bad Guy
11 Higher Or Heaven (feat. Halsey)
12 Love's Not Over (feat. Cody Simpson)
13 Wolves (feat. Marshmello)
