Selena Gomez & The Scene - A Year Without Rain Lyrics

- Release date: September 2010 -

A Year Without Rain is the second studio album by American band Selena Gomez & the Scene. The album was released on September 17, 2010. The band once again worked with writers and producers from their debut, Kiss & Tell such as Rock Mafia duo Tim James, and Antonina Armato, as well as Fefe Dobson, Toby Gad, and Superspy. New contributions came from Kevin Rudolf, Katy Perry, Jonas Jeberg and RedOne among others.

In an interview with MTV News in February 2010, when referring to the then-upcoming record, frontwoman Selena Gomez said, "It's kind of different — older — and it's kind of got, like, a reggae sound." Gomez also stated she was unsure of taking on the responsibility of the album's main songwriter, unwanting the added pressure. She also talked about producers for the album, expressing interest to work with "Naturally" producers, Antonina Armato and Tim James, as well as Dr. Luke. She pointed out main goals for the record, which were making sure that she could relate to it, and that the fans could also, stating, "all of those songs are things that I went through, and that's why I put that all together." Later in an interview with Digital Spy, Gomez gave hints about the album, stating that instead of pulling another single from 2009's Kiss & Tell, that she looked forward to moving into the next album, which would be completely different.

Gomez stated that the album was named after the titular single because it was the first song recorded for the album, and she wanted to base the rest of the work on the song. Gomez went into further explanation, stating, "I mean, even down from putting the track listing and numbering it, I wanted to make sure I envisioned fans putting it in their car or putting it on their iPod and how I wanted them to listen to the record." According to Gomez, most songs on the album were inspired by the band's dedicated fans, as she stated, "I wish I could give to them, because they mean so much to me." Calling the album "a feel-good record," Gomez said it has a more dance/techno vibe. The frontwoman also said that she wanted something with more "meaning and melody, and more empowering lyrics." About the new techno-leaning, Gomez said that it was inspired by the success of their breakout hit, "Naturally". She explained, "There's a feeling when I perform that song that I love, so when I was going back in the studio, I had a better understanding of where I wanted to be musically."

In July 2010, Gomez confirmed that an unreleased track co-penned by Katy Perry was given to her, and that Perry also contributed background vocals. She also confirmed the titles of songs "A Year Without Rain" and "Intuition". On August 17, 2010, Gomez revealed the album's track listing. The singer did not confirm any collaborations, whilst at the time it was rumored that Perry would be featured on her co-written "Rock God", and Miley Cyrus would perform alongside Gomez on "Off the Chain". It was also reported that a Demi Lovato duet "The Beginning of the Road" did not make the track listing, however this was unconfirmed and the collaborations proved to be false. A few days later, Lovato confirmed that she did not work on a track with Gomez for the album, but did not rule out a possible Gomez collaboration for her upcoming R&B-influenced album.

The album's lead single, "Round & Round", co-written and produced by Kevin Rudolf of Cash Money and Andrew Bolooki, Jeff Halavacs, was released on June 22, 2010. Fefe Dobson and Andrew Bolooki also receives writing credits. The song received positive reviews from critics who noted its catchiness and expanding of Gomez's demographic. It debuted at twenty-four on the Billboard Hot 100, and also appeared on the Pop Songs, and Hot Dance Club Play charts, as well as charting internationally. The song's accompanying music video, shot in Budapest, Hungary, features Gomez and the band in a secret spy storyline. The second single, "A Year Without Rain", written by Lindy Robbins and produced by Toby Gad, was released on September 7, 2010. It debuted at thirty-five in the United States, and at number thirty-seven in Canada.

The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 4, with sales of a little over 66,000, barely beating out the previous album Kiss & Tell.