Selena Gomez Alludes to Heartbreak Over Justin Bieber in Rare Interview

Selena Gomez is having a big week: Just yesterday she released her new song, “Single Soon”—her first new music since 2021. After using audio from Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones to tease her new track, Kim Cattrall (who, of course, plays Samantha) responded with her approval. And, per Access, in a rare interview the multihyphenate got candid about mental health and alludes to past heartbreak as her relationship with Justin Bieber disintegrated.

Speaking in an interview for the Twilio SIGNAL 2023 Conference on Thursday, Gomez joined Twilio’s chief marketing officer Joyce Kim for the vulnerable conversation about her life, and opened up about how her personal experiences have influenced the work she does.

“When I was going through a heartbreak, I immediately, you know, wrote my best music and wanted to be there for every woman or a man or whoever, you know, going through that journey,” Gomez said. “And then there was a kidney transplant I walked through, all these things that may seem like they could bring someone down. I try my hardest to say [at] least they’re not alone, and, if I keep going, hopefully that means someone else can keep going ‘cause I don’t want to always do it. But I want to for them more so than myself at times.”

Gomez—who, in addition to working on her forthcoming album SG3, is starring in the Hulu hit Only Murders in the Building and running a beauty brand, Rare Beauty—said “I’m a work in progress, and it’s just one day at a time.”

Marie Claire reported recently on the music Gomez is creating: “The music I’m doing right now is about real things that I’m walking through,” she told Vanity Fair earlier this year. “It’s really powerful, strong, very pop. The theme generally is freedom—freedom from relationships, freedom from the darkness. If I had my way, I would probably write ballads my whole life, but I want to produce music that will make people smile.”

Gomez, who turned 31 earlier this summer, is, as Marie Claire reported on recently, “prioritizing her mental health” and “eliminating any toxicity.” Her music matters to her too, of course, and in the interview Thursday she disclosed her favorite song from her catalog, and, as Access reports, it’s a song many think is about her ex-boyfriend Bieber—“Lose You to Love Me.”