It's no secret that Selena Gomez collaborated closely with her fiancé Benny Blanco on her newest album, I Said I Love You First, but some fans think the Only Murders in the Building actress drew inspiration from at least one of her famous former loves for some of the tracks.
As fans absorbed I Said I Love You First, which dropped on Mar. 21, many were struck by lyrics that seem to reference Gomez's ex, Justin Bieber—particularly in the tracks "You Said You Were Sorry" and “How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten."
In "You Said You Were Sorry," Gomez sings about having very much moved on from an unnamed ex, singing in the song's pre-chorus, "Don't think about you / Happy without you / More now than I ever was."
In the chorus, she references a dream in which the unnamed ex apologized to her—something they never did IRL.
"But I had a dream / You said you were sorry, said you were sorry / Sorry for everything / That you put on me, that you put on me / Our eyes were bawling rain / We finally both forgave ya / I had a dream, that's all it was / Yeah, that was enough for me."
Bieber famously issued a different kind of indirect apology to Gomez in the form of his 2015 single "Sorry," which he eventually confirmed was at least "a little bit" about her.
Of course, even without the "Sorry" connection, fans wouldn't have to reach for reasons to think Gomez might have dreamed of an apology after the infamously tumultuous relationship, which began in 2010 when she and Bieber were both teenagers. After splitting for the first time in 2012, the pair's relationship was on-again and off-again for several years until they split for good in early 2018—just months before Bieber would go on to marry his now-wife, Hailey Bieber.
While "You Said You Were Sorry" earned praise for delivering what some fans saw as an important message about closure and letting go, the possibly Bieber-inspired lyrics in "How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten" are more biting.
The lyrics “You’re so embarrassing / Go cry when no one’s watchin’ / I can’t imagine it / How does it feel to be forgotten (Ah), forgotten? (Ah-ah)," in particular, sparked speculation about Bieber, who has been known to cry in posts on social media, as a possible muse.
As Page Six pointed out, other lyrics in the song seem to mirror lyrics from Gomez's 2020 song "Look at Her Now," which was also believed to be about her breakup with Bieber. The "Look at Her Now" comparison is strongest in "How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten's" pre-chorus, when Gomez sings, “‘Cause you walked in, big-ass grin / Talkin’ like we’re friends, honey, what were you thinkin’? / He loves me, I love him / Look at you, just look at you now."
Gomez hasn't commented on the speculation that Bieber inspired some of the lyrics in her new music, but she and Blanco made it clear before the album dropped that I Said I Love You First would cover events before they met.
"This album came together organically as a direct result of the comfort that they both felt when working together creatively, allowing them to produce art that authentically reflects their experiences," a press release shared ahead of the drop date said (per People). "It chronicles their entire story—before they met, falling in love and looking to what the future holds."