Revival (Selena Gomez song)

For the first time in her career, Gomez was given full creative control following her signing with Interscope Records. She told the producers that although the production was important, she wanted its focus to be the lyrics.[3] During the album's recording process, Gomez went on a trip to Punta Mita, Mexico in April 2015 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."[4] Rock Mafia and Hit-Boy assisted Gomez on the creation of few tracks, only two that ended up on the album: "Body Heat" and the album's title-track, "Revival" described by herself as the "most personal" track on the record.[3] In that trip Gomez decided named the album "Revival" because the title-track represents the album as a whole saying: "all of the songs that have come into my life are so fresh and so different and funky and cool and sensual".[5] Gomez cited that "Revival" is one of the most important songs on the record and the song was an introduction to what she was passing the last 2 years. Gomez first teased the song in her Instagram account on June 18, she teased a video of herself recording the spoken-word introduction, then she teased the song again in a special Revival event on Palace Theater on September 16.

The song was written by Selena Gomez, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter and Adam Schmalholz with Chauncey Hollis and Antonina Armato and Tim James known by their production name Rock Mafia.[6] Rock Mafia and Chauncey Hollis, known by his stage name Hit-Boy, produced the track and Dubkiller handled the additional production.[6] The track was engineered by Steve Hammons, Adam Comstock and Danny Parra at Rock Mafia Studios in Santa Monica, California and at Casa Aramara in Punta Mita, Mexico.[6] HazeBanga, Nigel Lundemo, Hit-Boy and Dubkiller programmed the track and in the instrumentation, Jamie Muhoberac played keyboards and Rock Mafia played percussion.[6] The song was sent to be mixed by Rock Mafia and Steve Hammons served as the track's mixing engineer. Finally, the song was sent to Chris Gehringer to be mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City.[6]

Musically, "Revival" is an experimental electropop song with R&B and synth-pop influences, and heavily incorporates elements from tropical music, inspired by Selena's trip to Mexico. The song starts with a spoken-word introduction, where she says: "I dive into the future / But I'm blinded by the sun / I'm reborn in every moment / So who knows what I'll become". In the production of the song we can find sparkling synths, uplifting chorus [7] and guitars crunching over a syncopated beat.[8] USA Today said that Gomez' vocals are spare, cool, sensual and discreet.[8] The song is written in the key of C♯ major with a tempo of 125 beats per minute in common time. The track follows a chord progression of B – C♯ – E – B♯, and Gomez's vocals span from A2 to C♯4 giving almost 2 octaves of range.

Lyrically, "Revival" deals with themes of self-care, embracing one's inner power and self-restoration. In an interview with Genius.com, Gomez said that her favorite line of the entire album was: "What I've learned is so vital / More than just survival / This is my revival", she explained that "basically [it's] describing everything in one sentence about… no matter what pain, no matter what [...] the highest of highs are. I’ve learned so much from them, and I don’t regent anything in my life".[9] In the lyrics "This won't take too long, you'll see / I'm just tryna get to me", it has been pointed out that Gomez wants to make a new sound, she wants to make people forget her character from the Wizards of Waverly Place and from her previous pop band Selena Gomez & The Scene and to meet the "new" version of herself.

Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone praised the song's true and confident, writing, "The Gomez of this relaxed, confident pop collection butterflies with such ease that it feels like she’s revealing her true personality for the first time".[10] Sal Cinquemani, writer for Slant Magazine, said Gomez's represents another transformation.[11] USA Today critic Elysa Gardner commended Gomez's voice performance as "spare and cool, sensual but discreet" and that the "track announces her musical agenda".[12]

Credits and personnel adapted from Revival liner notes.[6]

Recording and management

• Recorded at Rock Mafia Studios (Santa Monica, California) and Casa Aramara (Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico)
• Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York)
• Published by Antonina Songs (ASCAP) — administered by Downtown Music Publishing LLC —, Akashic Field Music (BMI) — administered by Downtown Music Publishing LLC —, Universal Music Publishing Group (BMI), Justin's School for Girls (BMI) and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
• All rights administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI) and Thanks for the Songs Richard (BMI)
• All rights on behalf of itself and Thanks for the Songs Richard — administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. —, In-Q Music (BMI) and Mafia Della Roccia — on behalf of itself and Good Fellowship Publishing (ASCAP)

Personnel