Selena Gomez

Interviewer: You said it happened by accident. You said the songs just, I guess, got finished, and in this day and age, why hold onto them? Selena Gomez: I had been working on the album for four years.

I didn't wanna release anything that was mine, just 'cause I didn't feel like it was the right timing. I learned a lot from the last album, and I wanted to take what I've learned and turn it into something even better. And I'm glad I did, because this year, everything kinda just started pouring out of me.

I started saying things in a way that I've never been able to articulate them before. So it was actually exactly when it needed to happen. Yeah. Like I told you earlier, we shot the videos just a week ago, and that's really unheard of.

What Interviewer: got you to a place where you could start to tell your truth? Selena Gomez: I have. I've been in therapy for years. I've also taken breaks, and gone places to recollect my thoughts and my emotions and my wellbeing.

And but I've always been pretty transparent about what I've, what I've gone through. I just, I just choose how I'm gonna do it, because it would be inauthentic for me to just not say what I felt in the beginning of the year or last year or. It just wouldn't seem real to me.

Interviewer: And I wonder what your relationship is like when you're writing a song like that, knowing that the kind of human being that you are with the level of passion that you instill in your fan base, and also the level of attention that comes with that, if that ever affects your creative process. I know you try to block it out. Yeah. But does it sneak itself in?

Selena Gomez: I mean, I spent years living in fear of speaking up or saying things, and I guess that's just the people pleaser in me. And there was a huge moment where I just, I just kind of stopped caring, and I can't tell you when that moment was. I really can't. But it's not that I'm trying to make it specifically about just one subject in my life.

It's more just how I embody all of the experiences into one. Interviewer: We spoke a little bit about some of the artists and the music that moved you when you were younger, and you mentioned some real timeless influences, Bread, Fleetwood Mac. How does a young artist or a young person who loves that kind of music find themselves in this whirlwind of fast-paced pop culture, where it's, where it's bright and colorful and sparkly and smiley?

Those are artists that break hearts. Selena Gomez: My mom was in theater, and she. I mean, she just had this huge music library.

I mean, from Ella Fitzgerald to Reba McEntire to, you know, then again, going to Frank Sinatra, The Eagles, and all of that. My mom, Rolling Stones. Mm. She was very She's a song fan, huh?

Oh, for sure. And I definitely get some of that from her. But then my dad was a DJ, so he would do all kinds of stuff. And he was on the radio for a bit doing Tejano music and that.

So I had this experience in my life where I experienced the beautiful colors of music and where it can take you and I think it naturally happened for me. I remember I wanted to be, like, Paramore at one point. I thought, "This is my lane.

I feel it." that lasted about three months. We're big Paramore fans here. I literally love her.

Interviewer: So I guess we should focus on that song, Look At Her Now. I mean, that really is the. That's a moment of absolute self-empowerment.

You need to know who you are at that moment in time to make that song believable. Selena Gomez: Yeah. It just got weird. It just got really complicated, and I started noticing that my life just became a story, and it was entertainment.

And I was really. I was, I was just not okay with that because it was real, and it was very real to me. That's the time I needed to just say, "I'm not gonna be a part of this anymore."

How am I gonna not be afraid to share what I feel? Just because I'm mad at what the world is doing, it's, it's not really gonna get me anywhere. And everything that I do is with good intention.

Interviewer: I'm gonna play you something right now, which I oh. Is gonna qualify that. No, this is good.

Okay. So I'm gonna take my mics down for the purposes of edit, and then we'll reflect in a second, but you know this voice. Selena Gomez: It's the best thing she's ever done. She came over. She played me the video.

It's just, I'm so proud of her. She's been through so much. I've watched so much happen in her life and had a front row seat to so much, and I'm so proud of her.

I'm really excited because when somebody has had great life experience, has had, you know, really tough things they've had to go Yeah. And they can process that and make art that's gonna help other Yeah. That's what kind of song this is.

I'm stoked. Mm. Taylor. No, that's very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. Interviewer: You've known each other for a long time.

Yeah, about, 13 years. The challenge and the triumphs of sharing these things with friends. Right. I mean, without them, where do we go?

I don't know. I really don't. What kind of friend has she been to you through those times? Selena Gomez: Amazing, for sure. She was frustrated when I was frustrated.

She was sad when I was sad. But more than anything, my friends stood by my side. Mm. When I think they visibly saw me in so much pain, and they didn't want it for me, but they.

Sorry. Oh, no, it'they never stopped loving me. And I played her the song and I played it with her mom and dad, and I showed her the video. And her mom and Taylor started crying, and it wasn't because the song was emotional.

It was just because the first thing they said to me was, "We're so happy that you're here." Yeah. After seeing all of Yeah. This is such a cool moment, and that's, that's, that's a huge thing for me.

So down to my friends back home, my family, my papa crying, saying, "I hate that you went through what you went through. It breaks my heart, but I'm so proud of you." So Interviewer: This is real life stuff.

So much of what you go through as a person ends up in these three, four-minute songs. Yeah. And we forget the Right. That takes you there.

It's true. And what it takes to get to a point where that piece of music matters to you enough to share it. Selena Gomez: Yeah. That's the topics I'm interested in. You know, I have another song that's strictly about vulnerability, and that was a version of me actually having fun with it, saying, "I could be knocked down repeatedly, but I'm never gonna not be vulnerable."

And you know, I always say this, you know, one of the worst moments of my life ended up being the biggest blessing that I've ever had. I was set free, and I think even from stuff that I had been experiencing- Interviewer: Is it wrong for me to ask what that was? Selena Gomez: I mean, but it, but here's the thing.

It's not anything like we're gonna dissect. It's, it's more my life. It's more actually working since I was Mm.

Being away from my family. Mm. Moving from Texas to here, experiencing fame, being awkward, 'cause you're growing up. And I think, I think I was scared of it, and I probably hated most of it.

But with that time that I've been given, I've just been able to come out on the other side and be okay. And I don't really know how, other than all the work that I did, meaning friends, therapy, taking time off, going back to Texas, just enjoying what's right in front of me. I don't crave needing more.

I don't need more of anything. But it's, it's actually been great because that means I'm doing something good. And you You don'That's all I can do.

Interviewer: You don't crave or need more of anything? Like, you don't crave bit like Häagen-Dazs? I crave strawberry cheesecake.

Oh, if we're talking about Selena Gomez: cravings, whoa. If we're talking about cravings, of course I do. I mean, we What's the ice cream flavor?

Rocky road. Standard. Wow. You're really gonna hit me with that? Come Interviewer: on, man. You gotta go for, like, the deluxe edition with the little crunchy bits of biscuit.

Nope. Selena Gomez: Mm. 'Cause mm. You can add brownies, and you can add whipped cream, and you can add all different types. Oh, you Interviewer: don't put whipped cream on your ice cream.

I 100% do. Selena Gomez: That is not the journey. And I'm not gonna let you judge me for that. I'm judging. I am judging.

Then I judge you for the stain on your shirt. Oh.