Selena Gomez returned to the music scene with two new singles this week, her first solo tracks since 2018’s ‘Back to You.’ The first song, ‘Lose You to Love Me,’ “was inspired by many things that have happened in my life since releasing my last album,” she said in a statement. “I thought it was important to share the music, as I know many can relate to the fact that the road to self-discovery generally comes through the scars in one’s life. I want people to feel hope and to know you will come out the other side stronger and a better version of yourself.”
The second song, ‘Look At Her Now,’ came just hours later, and serves as a counterpoint to the vulnerability of the preceding track. “I felt having these two songs released back to back completed the story of how one can rise no matter what challenges life brings,” says Gomez. “Turning off the noise and living your life on your terms.”
After two days of rumours and speculation about the hidden meaning behind her two new songs, Gomez shed some light on what inspired the brutally honest lyrics in an interview with Ryan Seacrest saying, “I’m always going to be honest with people. I’ve never not been. I might not be overly chatty about it all the time, but this is where I’m able to release it. This is where it turns into art.”
In a nod to what fans are assuming is her relationship with Justin Bieber, Gomez sings, “Then you tore me down and now it’s showing / In two months, you replaced us / Like it was easy.” According to Vanity Fair, “This is a pretty obvious Bieber reference. He started dating Hailey Baldwin very publicly around June 2018, a couple months after his and Gomez’s final breakup.” In his interview with the 27-year-old singer, Seacrest alludes to that section of the song saying, “The two months lyric would be worse for us than going through a breakup, is having to see someone with someone else so fast.”
In response she said, “Yeah, I think you know, I’m really grateful, too, because I’ve actually experienced that a million times before and that’s the unfortunate part about what I do. So it’s all very real to me, and I’m sure it’s just entertainment for other people, but I just—I think I had become numb to it, and it would be stupid of me if I didn’t acknowledge what I had felt because it would be inauthentic, and that’s everything I claim to be and do [being authentic]. I know there are thousands of people, men and women, who have felt this feeling, and it’s extremely real, and on top of the social media and everything, it doesn’t matter if you’re in my position or if you’re in someone’s because you’re always going to somehow find this negative space. It’s just that’s what—that’s why I have to be careful, and I just have to take steps back and just focus on what I’m doing and no one else.”
Gomez also touched on another lyric from the song, “I needed to hate you to love me,” saying it was about the rollercoaster of emotions she was going through at the time. “I mean it’s all the feelings, right? It’s everything from happy and emotional to just realizing it and being frustrated. I just wanted to validate all those feelings because they were extremely real to me,” she said.
We don’t know much about her upcoming album, including the release date or even the title, but according to Gomez, the remaining tracks look forward rather than back. “All I know is these two songs were me wrapping up a chapter in a pretty little bow and the rest of the album is all about where I am now and where I’m going.”
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