Selena Gomez said she “needed” to write her emotional new song “regardless” of the fallout.
Gomez released Lose You To Love Me, a ballad about a failed relationship, on Tuesday and fans immediately speculated it was written about her ex-boyfriend, Justin Bieber.
The couple were involved in a high-profile, on-again off-again relationship before reportedly splitting up for good in March 2018.
Shortly afterwards Canadian pop star Bieber started dating model Hailey Baldwin and they are now married.
Less than 24 hours after releasing Lose You To Love Me, Gomez, 27, discussed the song’s reception and said she needed to write the track “regardless of what was going to come after”.
She told Radio Disney: “I wrote this song over a year ago and it’s obviously a very emotional song for me but it’s interesting to see how far I’ve come from that point to now.
“And me sharing my story is exactly what I’ve always done, because I can’t be inauthentic, I can’t pretend that I’m not going through something when it’s obvious that I had been.
“It’s one of those songs where I feel it’s out, it’s released, and I hope that girls and guys all over the world can feel supported. Because that’s a feeling everyone has felt.
“That was something that I needed to do for myself, regardless of what was going to come after.”
On Thursday morning, Gomez released a surprise second new single as an accompaniment to Lose You To Love Me.
And here’s my special gift to all of my ride or dies! I created this especially for you. Y’all have been through it all with me and I thank you for pushing me to be the best. Look At Her Now is out now. ❤️ https://t.co/aFDgALPxwl #ShotOniPhone #LookAtHerNow pic.twitter.com/cYBrStFt8f
— Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) October 24, 2019
Titled Look At Her Now and much more upbeat than the first song, Gomez said: “I felt having these two songs released back to back completed the story of how one can rise no matter what challenges life brings.”
The music video – shot on an iPhone, the same as Lose You To Love Me’s – features a smiling Gomez dancing in front of a rainbow-coloured backdrop.
Addressing a failed relationship, she sings: “Of course she was sad/but now she’s glad/she dodged a bullet”.
In Lose You To Love Me, former Disney Channel star Gomez sings “Set fire to my purpose/And I let it burn”, a possible reference to Bieber’s 2015 album Purpose.
Shortly after the song’s release, Baldwin was accused of taking aim at Gomez after posting a screenshot of the song I’ll Kill You by Summer Walker on her Instagram story.
However, the model reportedly denied the accusation in a since-deleted comment.
She is said to have wrote on Instagram: “Please stop with this nonsense… there is no ‘response,’ this is complete BS.”