The thing is, even on the songs at the deeper end of her self-examination on Rare, Gomez is holding back to protect her privacy. We expect performative songwriting from women today which is a pervasive double standard in music. Men are allowed to skip the details and even, as John Mayer might tell you, looked down upon for revealing too much personal information. Gomez prioritizes her privacy, a lesson she’s learned from two extremely public relationships, lived out loud on Instagram and in gossip magazines. Without dropping breadcrumbs, Gomez is left with platitudes like “If my love was like a flower would you plant it, would you grow it?” in “Vulnerable” and “I need to let my mind rest (my my my) / While my body reflects” in “Let Me Get Me.” Gomez is threading a fine line between confessional songwriting, in which women are expected to give up their deepest, darkest secrets, and protecting her mental health by drawing a line around her privacy.