Entertainment

Selena Gomez Teamed Up With A Pop Music Icon

by Alex Kritselis

Exciting news, pop music fanatics: Selena Gomez enlisted Max Martin for her new album, Revival (due out Oct. 9). The 23-year-old "Good For You" singer made the announcement during an interview with U.K. radio host Olivia Jones on Tuesday, and I cannot stop freaking out about it. This is huge, people! Max Martin is pop music royalty. The 44-year-old Swedish songwriter and producer got his start creating hits for acts like the Backstreet Boys ("As Long As You Love Me"), *NSYNC ("Tearin' Up My Heart"), and Britney Spears ("...Baby One More Time") in the '90s, and now, he's hotter than ever.

In recent years, Martin has become well-known for his collaborations with Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, but he works with a wide variety of artists. In fact, on Tuesday last week, he earned his 21st No. 1 single as a songwriter on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for R&B crooner The Weeknd's latest smash, "Can't Feel My Face." The only two songwriters who currently have more No. 1s than Martin? Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Yeah, he's kind of a big deal.

Martin has dabbled in a bunch of different genres (even country!) over the years. I wonder what his track(s) with Gomez will sound like? The Hotel Transylvania 2 star acknowledged that she's "not the best singer in the world" during an interview with Ryan Seacrest in June (which only makes me like her more, to be honest), so I doubt the tune(s) will be very vocally challenging. That one restriction aside, I think things could go in any number of directions! Here are six of Martin's recent productions that may give us some clues:

Demi Lovato's "Cool For The Summer"

I would love for Gomez's song(s) with Martin to have an icy-cool '80s vibe like "Cool for the Summer."

Natalie La Rose's "Around the World"

"Around the World" has an urban-pop feel to it, similar to "Good For You."

Ariana Grande's "Love Me Harder"

Martin must really dig "Love Me Harder," because Swift's "Style" contains a few of the same production elements. I wouldn't be surprised if his material with Gomez is also inspired by this sound.

Taylor Swift's "Style"

See above.

Tori Kelly's "California Lovers"

In terms of vocal ability, Tori Kelly and Gomez are probably on opposite ends of the spectrum — but "California Lovers" doesn't require a ton of range. I bet Gomez could pull it off.

G.R.L.'s "Show Me What You Got"

This is one of Martin's most underrated recent productions, if you ask me. I'm all for Gomez giving us a couple of bubblegum-pop bops like "Show Me What You Got" on Revival.

Will Martin help Gomez land her fourth top 10 single? He certainly has an impressive track record. Stay tuned.