Selena Gomez is the true definition of a multihyphenate—singer, actress, entrepreneur—but she is hinting that perhaps one of those titles could be put on pause (or retired permanently, which we would hate to see happen).
On the forthcoming January 7 episode of the “Smartless” podcast (which was obtained by E! News) Gomez said she has “one more album” in her before she calls it quits musically. “I started having a lot of fun with music and then touring was really fun,” she said. “But I was doing my TV show [Wizards of Waverly Place] at the same time, and I just found it really fun, so I just kept going. But the older I get, the more I’m kind of like, ‘I would like to find something to just settle on.’”
She added “I do feel like I have one more album in me, but I would probably choose acting. I am gonna want to chill because I’m tired.”
Gomez released her first solo album Stars Dance in 2013, followed by Revival in 2015 and Rare in 2020. She has starred on television in both a scripted series (Only Murders in the Building, for which she has earned two Emmy nominations) and a non-scripted series (Selena + Chef), and is set to star in the upcoming musical comedy film Emilia Perez, which was shot in Paris last year. Gomez hasn’t toured since her 2016 “Revival” tour, Page Six reports; she cancelled the tour midway through its run because of mental health struggles amidst her lupus diagnosis. Gomez performed 55 shows before having what her former assistant Theresa called a “psychotic break”: “At one point she’s like, ‘I don’t want to be alive right now. I don’t want to live,’” Theresa said in Gomez’s Apple TV+ documentary My Mind and Me. “And I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’ It was one of those moments where you look in her eyes and there’s nothing there. It was just pitch black. It’s so scary. You’re like, ‘F—k this. This needs to end. We need to go home.’”
Gomez was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and sought treatment at a mental health facility following the tour; since seeking treatment, Gomez has become an advocate for mental health, even speaking at a mental health forum at the White House in May 2022.
In addition to her advocacy work and her dual careers in music and acting (we get why she’s tired!), Gomez is also an entrepreneur—she founded cosmetics company Rare Beauty in 2019. Amongst all of her many pursuits, Gomez once said “I think of myself more as an actress. I do my music because I’m very passionate about my music. I love making music. I love inspiring people. I love making great songs that are just really fun. But that’s all it usually is for me. I do work really hard when it comes to acting, and I want to do that for a long time. So that’s where I hope to be recognized professionally most.”
On the “Smartless” podcast, Gomez revealed that, when she was starring in Wizards of Waverly Place, Disney wanted her to become a “triple threat,” which was the origin of her musical career. “I wanted to be an actress,” she said. “I never really intended on being a singer full-time, but apparently that hobby turned into something else.” Of Disney, she added “Disney is, it’s safe to say, a machine, and, in a way forcefully requires that I know how to sing so I could sing the theme song [of a show]. They know how to package someone and make it a whole triple threat thing.”
She told the hosts “I don’t think I’m the best singer, but I do know how to tell stories, and I love being able to make songs.” Gomez also referenced her mental health struggles, which she experienced because of overworking: “I went to a mental institute and canceled one of my tours,” she said. “It just got to me because I love working, and it distracts me from bad things.”
Though Gomez hasn’t released an album since 2020, she released “Single Soon”—presumably the first single off of her upcoming (and possibly final) record—over the summer. She told Vogue Mexico that she had written “no sad songs” for her forthcoming album and, though it’s a career she might be willing to give up, she certainly has enjoyed success in music—in 2023, Gomez and Afrobeats star Rema’s song “Calm Down” was one of the top 10 songs of the year and was certified triple-platinum.
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