‘Call Me When You Breakup’ Single Review: A Low-Effort Attempt at a Pop Comeback

After recent releases “Love On” and “Single Soon,” a $2 billion makeup brand, several successful television shows and movies, and a brand new boyfriend, Selena Gomez is attempting to climb the pop charts once again. It’s just like 2015 again! But not in a good way.

“Call Me When You Break Up,” the newest collaboration between Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, and Gracie Abrams, can be described as nothing more than boring. With bland beats, stale lyrics, and absolutely no instrumental diversity, this song inspires no strong emotions: no hatred, no joy, just boredom.

Like hundreds of songs in the past ten years, the single starts with a classic missed call voice message. Ten years ago, this trick made artists seem quirky. Now, putting voice messages in songs about calling people feels awfully trite.

The first verse, sung by Selena Gomez, leaves one with the intense feeling that something is missing. Gomez’s voice has always been subdued, but in a likeable way that fits the tempo, beats, and lyrics of her biggest songs. In “Call Me When You Break Up,” her vocals are just mixed badly. Whether it’s Gomez’s vocal performance or Blanco’s production skills, the vocals in this song are too soft, too slow, and lack the intensity and emotion that may have compensated for the boring lyrics and instrumental monotony.

The collaboration is briefly saved by Gracie Abrams’ significantly higher-quality second verse. Her voice is bright, varying, and quick, giving us a pinch of emotion in a song that otherwise sounds like it’s being read off a piece of paper handed over by an underpaid songwriter. Even the lyrics in this verse are significantly more clever, taking advantage of metaphors and imagery like “I'm battlin’ the lack of us, I've looked for medication” or “I'm skipping cracks along the pavement / Look, I'm emotionally bankrupt.” In comparison to these not great — but still above average — lyrics the first verse’s “And whеn you're feelin’ down, I can show you what you’re made” feels even more vague and unemotional. While this verse is not groundbreaking — it’s very similar to “Risk,” “That’s So True,” or any other classic Gracie Abrams song — it’s still a newer, more interesting sound than the rest of the song.

But this verse is short and no real effort is made to blend Selena Gomez’s and Gracie Abrams’ voices. Lacking a bridge, the rest of the song continues with no variation in tempo, the same low-spirited vocals, and mediocre production.

“Call Me When You Break Up” feels like a low-effort attempt at a pop comeback. Even the music video, which attempts to be cute through a messy, first-person shot of Abrams and Gomez singing along, feels cheap, confusing, and plain bad.

While the collaboration with Gracie Abrams attempts to save the song and make both Gomez and Blanco musically relevant again, the track falls flat. It’s not that the song is awful — it sounds like something that may have lived at the top of the charts for a week or two in 2015. But pop music has progressed wildly in the last 10 years. Artists like Charli xcx have pushed the bounds of mainstream pop. Even singers that are accused of being too boring, like Tate McRae and Sabrina Carpenter, maintain addictive vocals, clever imagery, and bouncy production that forces us to keep listening. In comparison, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco aren’t able to keep up.

Call me when Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco break up. Or at least, when they stop collaborating. In the meantime, I’ll be listening to literally any other solely Gracie Abrams song.

—Staff writer Saranya Singh can be reached at saranya.singh@thecrimson.com.