Selena Gomez titillated fans this week with a sneak peak of her new album’s artwork, which features a nude black and white photo, reports Entertainment Weekly . Due out October 9, Gomez believes Revival is her homage to feeling “sexy and good,” and grown up, of course.
The album’s central artwork is a tasteful black and white photo of Selena sitting with her legs crossed, leaving just enough to the imagination. Selena wears her hair long and stares directly into the camera.
Revival , her first album after she left Disney for Interscope, tells the story of Selena growing up from her Disney days to a confident artist. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Selena Gomez stressed she “felt like there was a fluid story” and wanted to give fans a sense of who she is.
“I grew up with Britney and NYSYNC and Janet and all those people… I would buy the [album], read the thank yous, and I felt like I knew them,” Gomez explained.
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The album features an all-grown-up Selena Gomez, and fans can expect songs similar to Selena’s first single, “Good For You.” According to Business Standard , Selena “just want[ed] to make feel-good songs that make people want to dance.”
However, Gomez, who understands she’s “under a microscope” for being famous, revealed she’s sometimes at odds with her fame. The singer confessed to Entertainment Weekly that her fame “has taken me into so many different phases. It’s made me depressed and it’s made me happy and it’s made me grateful and humble.” Selena elaborated that fame has taught her that “it’s okay to let down my walls with my music, to feel sexy and good,” and she wanted Revival to reflect it.
For part of the album, Selena took to Mexico for inspiration. Collaborating with Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter from Semi Precious Weapons, Hitboy, and Rock Mafia (comprised of Miley Cyrus and Ellie Goulding), Gomez “stayed in a house together like one big family. We’d wake up in our bathing suits, go to the beach.”
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But it wasn’t all fun, and Gomez would spend time in “the studio for hours. I wanted to feel the songs and be weird and have a change of environment.”
With Revival , Selena also has finally learned to accept and celebrate her body, as evidenced by her new album cover. For years, Gomez was “always insecure with my speaking voice because it’s so low. I never felt like it was feminine-sounding. I didn’t know it would be such an asset to who I am now, though. It adds a cool, personal quality. It’s exciting.”
[Image credit: Larry Busacca /Getty Images]