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Hands to Myself
"Hands to Myself" is a song recorded by American singer Selena Gomez for her second studio album, Revival (2015). It was released on January 20, 2016, as the record's third single by Interscope Records. The track was written by Gomez, Justin Tranter, Julia Michaels, and its producers Mattman & Robin and Max Martin. It is meant to add a fresh female perspective to the album and was influenced by the music of Prince. Musically, it is a dance-pop and synth-pop song backed by lightly clicking percussion, hand claps, a guitar riff and "tribal pop" synths. Throughout the track, Gomez uses both her higher vocal register for belting, as well as her lower range breathy vocals in a volume just above a whisper. She clips her enunciation of the lyrics, which detail sexual desire.
"Hands to Myself" received acclaim from music critics, who complimented its uncharacteristic production and lyrics, as well as Gomez's versatile vocal performance. An accompanying music video directed by Alek Keshishian was premiered as an Apple Music exclusive on December 21, 2015. The video depicts a film of Gomez dressed in lingerie playing a stalker of a Hollywood actor; critics commended its cinematography and the singer's appearance, hailing it as her sexiest and most revealing visual yet. Gomez promoted the song with televised performances on the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and Saturday Night Live. It has also been lip-synched to by the Victoria's Secret Angels in a promotional video, and used in Beats Electronics' commercial for their Beats Pill portable speaker and was also featured in a television commercial for Pantene. Commercially, "Hands to Myself" reached number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Gomez's fifth consecutive top-ten hit in the United States and third from Revival. It also peaked within the top ten in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Slovakia, and the top twenty in Australia and the United Kingdom.
"Hands to Myself" was written by Justin Tranter, Julia Michaels, Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson, Max Martin and Selena Gomez. The second-to-last song recorded for Selena Gomez's second studio album, Revival (2015), "Hands to Myself" was described by Gomez as "a beautiful accident" and "probably the best song on the album". Following the success of the album's lead single "Good for You" which Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter co-wrote, Gomez decided to collaborate for an additional four days with Michaels and Tranter despite her label's instructions for the album to be mixed at the time. Before the sessions began, Gomez felt that she had already addressed her desired themes for Revival, but wanted additional material that would be fresh from a female perspective.
The idea of development for "Hands to Myself" started with the hook, "Can't keep my hands to myself", which Michaels had voiced in a note on her cellphone after singing it in her car. She first approached Tranter, and Robin Fredriksson of Mattman & Robin with the hook, asking, "Is this stupid? This could be really cool, I think". Later, Michaels suggested to Gomez that the track should sound like Prince's music; Gomez enthusiastically agreed. Michaels was also banging a cup on a desk at the session, inspiring a similar sound included in the recording. Another lyric, "You're metaphorical gin-and-juice", was a line Tranter had initially tried using in "a hundred" other songs. A demo of the song was recorded within a day with production from Mattman & Robin who told Gomez that it should be sent to producer Max Martin for further vocal production. At first unsure, Gomez acceded to the duo's suggestion. Martin immediately responded through FaceTime, describing it as the best thing he had heard all year. He included ad libitum and additional vocal hooks at the song's final chorus while also adjusting its pre-chorus. Recording took place at Wolf Cousins and Maratone Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and at Interscope Studios in Santa Monica, California.
"Hands to Myself" is a dance-pop and synth-pop song. It begins stripped-down with a minimal backdrop and a sparse, thumping beat. This comprises drums, bass, lightly clicking percussion and hand claps. The beat then snaps and percolates as a dark guitar riff, reminiscent of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" (1988), plays beneath it. Using her lower vocal register and breathy vocals, Gomez coos in an octave just above a whisper. She clips her enunciation with a string of consecutive syllables, "Can't-keep-my-hands-to-my-self".
At the pre-chorus, the song pertains to a "tribal pop" sound with synths and piano becoming prominent. Gomez extends her vocal range belting, "All of the downs and the uppers / Keep making love to each other / And I'm trying, trying, I'm trying, trying". In the chorus, she is then accompanied by gasping background vocals sung by Michaels. Before the final chorus, the music cuts out; Gomez then sings the line "I mean I could but why would I want to?" unaccompanied in one melodic burst. The song ends in a booming crescendo with Gomez's vocal breaking into gasps and sighs.
Lyrically, "Hands to Myself" express sexual desire and wish to find love through good and bad situations. Sam Wolfson of Vice magazine opines that at first the lyrics suggest a typical song about sexual desire, but a "darker undercurrent" then becomes apparent; "there's two narratives at play – a surface and a more hostile truth", he explained. According to Wolfson, the "all of the downs and the uppers" lyric implies a relationship affected by drugs and mental health, further manifested in the line, "The doctors say you're no good". Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic writes that the lyric "you're metaphorical gin-and-juice" "rebukes the idea that Millennials like the 23-year-old Gomez don't get the meaning of 'literal'; is a redundant description given that it's unlikely she'd be singing to an actual cocktail; and is further proof of Long Beach gangsta rap's grand influence". "Hands to Myself" is written in the key of E♭ major with a tempo of 111 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of E♭ – Gm – Cm – B♭, with Gomez's vocals ranging from the low note of B♭3 to the high note of C♯5.
Dave Hanratty from Drowned in Sound deemed it a "laser-focused sugar rush". Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone praised the song's fun and flirty sound, writing, "Her brand of sexiness has a coy, subtle quality that never tries too hard". Sal Cinquemani, writer for Slant Magazine, said Gomez's vocal performance made the track interesting, describing it as smartly indebted to that of Robyn; "success is a pretty girl who knows how to play her cards," he concluded. Jamieson Cox of The Verge commented: "She's a piece of the puzzle rather than a figure at the forefront, and her bigger moments are made to look more impressive by the gulf between them and her hushed, clipped verses. The result is something that sounds like an upper-case version of the xx, and it's a great look for Selena. Smart writing always wins." USA Today critic Elysa Gardner commended Gomez's "sense of poise and reserve" on the song which she highlighted as "lithe".
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Hands to Myself
"Hands to Myself" is a song recorded by American singer Selena Gomez for her second studio album, Revival (2015). It was released on January 20, 2016, as the record's third single by Interscope Records. The track was written by Gomez, Justin Tranter, Julia Michaels, and its producers Mattman & Robin and Max Martin. It is meant to add a fresh female perspective to the album and was influenced by the music of Prince. Musically, it is a dance-pop and synth-pop song backed by lightly clicking percussion, hand claps, a guitar riff and "tribal pop" synths. Throughout the track, Gomez uses both her higher vocal register for belting, as well as her lower range breathy vocals in a volume just above a whisper. She clips her enunciation of the lyrics, which detail sexual desire.
"Hands to Myself" received acclaim from music critics, who complimented its uncharacteristic production and lyrics, as well as Gomez's versatile vocal performance. An accompanying music video directed by Alek Keshishian was premiered as an Apple Music exclusive on December 21, 2015. The video depicts a film of Gomez dressed in lingerie playing a stalker of a Hollywood actor; critics commended its cinematography and the singer's appearance, hailing it as her sexiest and most revealing visual yet. Gomez promoted the song with televised performances on the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and Saturday Night Live. It has also been lip-synched to by the Victoria's Secret Angels in a promotional video, and used in Beats Electronics' commercial for their Beats Pill portable speaker and was also featured in a television commercial for Pantene. Commercially, "Hands to Myself" reached number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Gomez's fifth consecutive top-ten hit in the United States and third from Revival. It also peaked within the top ten in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Slovakia, and the top twenty in Australia and the United Kingdom.
"Hands to Myself" was written by Justin Tranter, Julia Michaels, Robin Fredriksson, Mattias Larsson, Max Martin and Selena Gomez. The second-to-last song recorded for Selena Gomez's second studio album, Revival (2015), "Hands to Myself" was described by Gomez as "a beautiful accident" and "probably the best song on the album". Following the success of the album's lead single "Good for You" which Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter co-wrote, Gomez decided to collaborate for an additional four days with Michaels and Tranter despite her label's instructions for the album to be mixed at the time. Before the sessions began, Gomez felt that she had already addressed her desired themes for Revival, but wanted additional material that would be fresh from a female perspective.
The idea of development for "Hands to Myself" started with the hook, "Can't keep my hands to myself", which Michaels had voiced in a note on her cellphone after singing it in her car. She first approached Tranter, and Robin Fredriksson of Mattman & Robin with the hook, asking, "Is this stupid? This could be really cool, I think". Later, Michaels suggested to Gomez that the track should sound like Prince's music; Gomez enthusiastically agreed. Michaels was also banging a cup on a desk at the session, inspiring a similar sound included in the recording. Another lyric, "You're metaphorical gin-and-juice", was a line Tranter had initially tried using in "a hundred" other songs. A demo of the song was recorded within a day with production from Mattman & Robin who told Gomez that it should be sent to producer Max Martin for further vocal production. At first unsure, Gomez acceded to the duo's suggestion. Martin immediately responded through FaceTime, describing it as the best thing he had heard all year. He included ad libitum and additional vocal hooks at the song's final chorus while also adjusting its pre-chorus. Recording took place at Wolf Cousins and Maratone Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and at Interscope Studios in Santa Monica, California.
"Hands to Myself" is a dance-pop and synth-pop song. It begins stripped-down with a minimal backdrop and a sparse, thumping beat. This comprises drums, bass, lightly clicking percussion and hand claps. The beat then snaps and percolates as a dark guitar riff, reminiscent of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" (1988), plays beneath it. Using her lower vocal register and breathy vocals, Gomez coos in an octave just above a whisper. She clips her enunciation with a string of consecutive syllables, "Can't-keep-my-hands-to-my-self".
At the pre-chorus, the song pertains to a "tribal pop" sound with synths and piano becoming prominent. Gomez extends her vocal range belting, "All of the downs and the uppers / Keep making love to each other / And I'm trying, trying, I'm trying, trying". In the chorus, she is then accompanied by gasping background vocals sung by Michaels. Before the final chorus, the music cuts out; Gomez then sings the line "I mean I could but why would I want to?" unaccompanied in one melodic burst. The song ends in a booming crescendo with Gomez's vocal breaking into gasps and sighs.
Lyrically, "Hands to Myself" express sexual desire and wish to find love through good and bad situations. Sam Wolfson of Vice magazine opines that at first the lyrics suggest a typical song about sexual desire, but a "darker undercurrent" then becomes apparent; "there's two narratives at play – a surface and a more hostile truth", he explained. According to Wolfson, the "all of the downs and the uppers" lyric implies a relationship affected by drugs and mental health, further manifested in the line, "The doctors say you're no good". Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic writes that the lyric "you're metaphorical gin-and-juice" "rebukes the idea that Millennials like the 23-year-old Gomez don't get the meaning of 'literal'; is a redundant description given that it's unlikely she'd be singing to an actual cocktail; and is further proof of Long Beach gangsta rap's grand influence". "Hands to Myself" is written in the key of E♭ major with a tempo of 111 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of E♭ – Gm – Cm – B♭, with Gomez's vocals ranging from the low note of B♭3 to the high note of C♯5.
Dave Hanratty from Drowned in Sound deemed it a "laser-focused sugar rush". Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone praised the song's fun and flirty sound, writing, "Her brand of sexiness has a coy, subtle quality that never tries too hard". Sal Cinquemani, writer for Slant Magazine, said Gomez's vocal performance made the track interesting, describing it as smartly indebted to that of Robyn; "success is a pretty girl who knows how to play her cards," he concluded. Jamieson Cox of The Verge commented: "She's a piece of the puzzle rather than a figure at the forefront, and her bigger moments are made to look more impressive by the gulf between them and her hushed, clipped verses. The result is something that sounds like an upper-case version of the xx, and it's a great look for Selena. Smart writing always wins." USA Today critic Elysa Gardner commended Gomez's "sense of poise and reserve" on the song which she highlighted as "lithe".