A Year Without Rain is the second studio album by American band
Selena Gomez & the Scene. The album was released on September 21, 2010 via
Hollywood Records. For songwriting, staffwriters were hired to write all the lyrics. 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. Due to the success of their breakout hit, "
Naturally", the album draws mainly from
dance-pop and
synthpop, rather than the
pop rock and
electronic rock sound of
Kiss & Tell. While making use of the
Auto-Tune effect, the album also infuses influences of several other genres, including
dancehall and
Eurodance, among others. According to Gomez, most of the songs on the album are dedicated to the fans, while she wanted content with more melodies and empowering lyrics. Lyrical themes include topics of love, freedom, and the joy of living in the moment.