Gomez dishes on each of the 12 tracks on her new album.

Just one year after Disney Channel graduate (and Justin Bieber's main gal) Selena Gomez released her second album, "A Year Without Rain," Gomez got the band -- The Scene -- back together for album number three, "When the Sun Goes Down."



"I'm really proud of it," Gomez tells Billboard.com of the album, out today (June 28). "I definitely think this is a different kind of album for me." "When the Sun Goes Down" features a diverse array of themes, most of which speak to the burgeoning maturity of its now 18-year-old creator. "I think it ages me up a little bit," she says.



Shortly before Gomez's June 23 appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, the singer sat down with Billboard.com to walk us through every track on "When the Sun Goes Down." Watch the video track-by-track above, or read what Gomez had to say below. Not only does Gomez explain why every album needs a breakout song, she reveals which songs made the album because of her mom.

1. "Love You Like a Love Song"



"[This] will be my second single. It's one of those tracks that's addictive because it's kind of repetitive in the best way. It's one of those songs that you can't get out of your head. It was written by Tim [James] and Antonina [Armato] of Rock Mafia and they're so sweet."



2. "Bang, Bang, Bang"

"It's a really fun, cheeky song. It's kind of an insult/compliment song about someone that used to be in your life and now someone who is in your life who's amazing. It's a sweet song and I feel like a lot of girls can related to it especially."



3. "Who Says"

"It's probably my favorite I've ever recorded. I think it's really meaningful and it's kind of a big anthem. It went platinum so it's my second song ever that's platinum. I was really excited, I was in the car when I found out promoting the third album. It gave me a big boost."



4. "We Own the Night"

"It made the album because of my mom. Then I became crazy obsessed with it because it's a beautiful song. It was really fun to sing. I love Pixie Lott. I think she's incredible and talented. She co-wrote the song with Toby Gad."



5. "Hit the Lights"

"I feel like everyone can relate to that song. It's kind of one of those songs about living in the moment while keeping it a big huge summer dance track."



6. "Whiplash"

"I love the lyrics saying you're completely in love with someone and you're going to crash into them and get whiplash. The funny thing about that is that I actually did get into an accident two days before I recorded that song. I didn't get whiplash, it wasn't a bad accident but it was really funny."



7. "When the Sun Goes Down"

"It's really special to my bass player, Joey, who wrote it. And I got to rewrite the bridge of it as well. It felt like we got to do that as a band."



8. "My Dilemma"

"'My Dilemma' is my Kelly Clarkson kind of pop rock. You have to have a break up song. You have to have one of those songs about a boy that drives you crazy. It's really just one of those songs that I can sing over and over and over again."



9. "That's More Like It"

"[This] is a little bit of a cheeky '50s kind of theme; back then you always kind of assumed that the woman would cook for you and the guys would go work. The song kind of flips that and says 'you can massage my feet, you can take care of me, you can cook me dinner.' I think girls will enjoy singing that though I apologize to all of the boys who will be hearing that song."



10. "Outlaw"

"In the bridge it says I'm from the Lone Star state which makes me very happy because I'm very proud of where I came from. But it's actually kind of spooky and really pretty. That's the only way I can describe it. It's a very fun, weird track."



11. "Middle of Nowhere"

"I didn't write that one but it's gorgeous and I feel like everybody can relate to it. Then you add all the fun pop beats and synths behind the song and it just really makes you want to move."



12. "Dices"

"'Dices' is 'Who Says' in Spanish. We actually recorded that because I recorded 'A Year Without Rain' in Spanish and it did really well and I love being able to connect with that side of me. I'm not fluent in Spanish so it's nice to sing it and makes my family proud."

Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga Among Week's Biggest Social Media Stars

The “Monte Carlo” star and “Born This Way” singer are among those seeing big gains in Twitter followers and online video views.

As expected, Monte Carlo star Selena Gomez climbs 16-5 on the Social 50 chart thanks to the buzz generated the premiere of her video for the song "Love You Like a Love Song." Read THR's Monte Carlo review here.



Since debuting June 23, the video has pulled in nearly 8 million Vevo views, respectively (a 107% week-to-week increase).
 
Elsewhere, Gomez saw a 33% week-to-week decline in Facebook Fans, claiming 260,367 Likes where Katy Perry -- who herself moves 2-3 -- gained 651,000.



On the other hand, Gomez saw a 95% weekly increase in Twitter followers - -up 99,000 -- which is the seventh highest of the week. Understandably, in terms of the largest Twitter boost, Lady Gaga (3-2) comes in at top with 169,5000 new followers.
 


In other stats, according to the real-time Twitter search engine Topsy, fans have tweeted about the video for "Love You Like a Love Song" over 9,500 times.
 




Though the June 28 release of her latest album, When The Sun Goes Down, falls outside of the tracking week, its momentum will likely propel her higher in the Social 50 tally the following week.




The Social 50 ranks the most active artists on the world's leading social networking sites -- YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and iLike -- using a formula blending weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.



Another chart leap comes by way of David Guetta, who moves 24-16. Two teasers for the video for the song "Where Them Girls At" -- featuring Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj - collected 1.5 million YouTube views. At the end of August, Guetta is set to release his fifth studio album, Nothing But the Beat. He also saw a 22% week-to-week increase in MySpace plays, which amounted to a mere 5,200 plays.



At No. 29, Tyler Ward earns the highest chart re-entry this week. On June 16, he released a video for a cover of "Dirt Road Anthem" by Jason Aldean, which soon took off and gained 354,000 YouTube views, respectively. Outside of the tracking week, he also released a cover of "Good Life" -- featuring Heather Janssen -- by One Republic. Since its June 27 debut, the video has earned 282,000 YouTube views.
 




Box Office Preview: Julia Roberts and Selena Gomez Enter the Fray

South Korean boy band 2PM debuts at No. 35 on the Social 50 chart thanks to the premiere of its video for "Hands Up" on June 20. The dance track - featured on an album of the same name -- gained 2.4 million YouTube views, respectively (a 207% week-to-week increase).
 




Last week, Sean Kingston, who landed in the hospital after a tragic accident, was released after a three-week stay. This news helped Kingston re-enter the tally at No. 39, with a 47% week-to-week increase in support across all monitored social networks (53,000 Twitter followers and 245,500 Facebook fans).



As for the rest of the top 10, Justin Bieber (No. 1), Rihanna (No. 6), Michael Jackson (No. 7), and Nicki Minaj (No. 10) hold their respective positions, while Shakira (5-4), Eminem (4-8), and Linkin Park (12-9) mix up the order.

Movie Review: 'Monte Carlo' [movie trailer]

Leighton Meester, left, Selena Gomez and Katie Cassidy star "Monte Carlo." (Larry Horricks, 20th Century Fox / July 1, 2011)

So "Monte Carlo" turns out to be a lot easier to take than both "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Larry Crowne." You never know.



Here's the sort of hardened show business veteran we have in Selena Gomez, who spent two seasons way back in her preteens on "Barney & Friends." We have the star of Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place." We have the star of Disney's TV movie "Princess Protection Program." We have a hard-working vocalist, whose first album came out in 2009. We have the woman who launched her own Kmart clothing line. Well. Hers and Kmart's.



And here's the nice thing. Unlike a few other well-drilled young actress-singers we could name, such as the one whose name rhymes with "Riley Myrus," Gomez knows how to relax on camera. In "Monte Carlo" she plays Grace, a graduating small-town high school Texas girl who dreams of Paris. That dream comes true, with a caveat: She and fellow waitress pal Meg (Katie Cassidy) end up traveling with a late-addition third wheel, Grace's scold of a stepsister (Leighton Meester).



Adapted from Jules Bass's novel "Headhunters," "Monte Carlo" leans hard in the early going on tiresome bickering between Meg and Emma, characters in the early 20s, while Gomez's 18-year-old Grace keeps the peace even as their package tour starts feeling like a chore. Then, bigger complications: The threesome gets separated from the group after an Eiffel Tower visit. And Grace is mistaken for a snotty British socialite (also played by Gomez), for whom she is a dead ringer.

Then it's off to Monte Carlo on the socialite ruse for boys, boys, boys. Emma falls in with a louche playboy but her heart yearns for her Texas sweetheart (Cory Monteith). Meg, still grieving the death of her mother, finds a sunny Australian (Luke Bracey) to improve her outlook. Grace fakes her way through polo matches and deals with her attraction to a nice French boy (Pierre Boulanger). Disguises, deceptions — you could call the narrative of "Monte Carlo" Shakespearean, but I prefer to consider Shakespeare's romantic comedies as "Selena Gomez-esque."



Director and cowriter Thomas Bezucha lacks visual panache, and in fact leaves most of the panache in general to composer Michael Giacchino's swank and charming ditties and montage accompaniments. Still, the characters and the film grow on you. Meester more or less steals it. She plays the character undergoing the most compelling transformation, and her comic touch is both deft and subtle. "Monte Carlo" is nothing much, but it leaves your soul un-crushed and this week, especially, it's cause for a celebration-ette.



stewardriz@aol.com



MPAA rating: PG (for brief mild language)



Cast: Selena Gomez (Grace); Katie Cassidy (Emma); Leighton Meester (Meg); Luke Bracey (Riley); Cory Monteith (Owen); Pierre Boulanger (Theo); Catherine Tate (Aunt Alicia)



Credits: Directed by Thomas Bezucha; written by Thomas Bezucha, April Blair and Maria Maggenti; based on the novel "Headhunters" by Jules Bass; produced by Denise Di Novi, Alison Greenspan and Nicole Kidman. A 20th Century Fox release. Running time: 1:49. Opens Friday.

The Esoteric Wordsmyth For Enriching The Esoteric Vocabulary!

The Esoteric Wordsmyth

Phrontistery

Phrontistery pronounced \fron'tis-te-ree\ Greek phrontisterion, from phrontistes a thinker, from phroneein to think.

A thinking-place; a place for study. I simply had to include 'phrontistery' on this list. It was first used by Aristophanes to apply to the school of Socrates, and was somewhat mocking in tone. A peculiar (and under-used) term, I hope to reclaim it for thinking people everywhere. No other term is synonymous, and its intellectual if pompous sound merely adds to its charm.

NR

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