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Selena Gomez has finally spoken out about her true feeling of 2020 and it is a bittersweet feeling according to her.
How Selena feels about 2020
During a new interview with Billboard published on 17th December the singer discussed how successful she had been during pandemic-stricken 2020. However feels her success is bittersweet.
“There’s this bittersweet feeling, of course,” says Gomez. “I would much rather the world be in a better place. Yet at the same time, it was so beautiful to see that my music could hopefully bring some people some sort of joy in the midst of it.”
Her success started with "Love You to Lose Me"
Selena got her first Hot 100 No. 1 at the end of 2019 with the emotional break-up ballad “Lose You To Love Me,”released on October 23rd 2019 which became part of her third studio album, Rare. The song is supposedly centred around her breakup with Justin Bieber who then quickly moved on to marry Hailey Baldwin in 2018, which would of course bring bittersweet feelings too.
Her emotional song showed a vulnerable side and helped fans relate
Seeing a vulnerable side to Selena helped fans not only see her in a different light but take more of a liking towards her. Rare went on to become her third No. 1 title in early 2020 earning 703,000 equivalent album units to date according to Bill Board.
However the key to the success of the album was how personal it was for fans. Senior VP marketing expert Matt LeMontt says;
“We had to make sure the promotion of the album felt as personal as the music was to her.”
Intimate listening sessions, online fan Q&As held upon Rare’s January release, as well as album artwork and merchandise that Gomez herself helped curate all helped with making it personal.
However it also divided fans into Selena v Hailey
Of course it also divided up fans into Selena v Hailey buckets. In fact after the song was released in October 2019, a rumor started that Hailey had thrown shade at Gomez via an Instagram story, in which she shared a song called “I want to kill you.” Both Hailey and Gomez shot down the rumors immediately, encouraging their followers to end the vitriol.
“Please stop with this nonsense,” Hailey wrote on Instagram, after Selena fans accused her of the “There is no ‘response,’” Hailey clarified. “This is complete BS.”
Gomez addressed the rumors by encouraging kindness. She told Elle;
“I am grateful for the response that the song is getting. I’m so grateful. However, I do not stand for women tearing women down. And I will never, ever be by that. So please be kind to everyone."
She went on to tell her fans;
“If you’re my fans, don’t be rude to anybody, please. Don’t go off and say things that you just feel in the moment. And just please, from me, know that that’s not my heart. My heart is only to release things that I feel that are me and that I’m proud of. And that’s all that I’ll say, yeah. Again, please be kind.”
Selena's charitable side after COVID increased her fan base
When the pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, Selena launched a new set of merchandise for the empowering single “Dance Again,” with proceeds going to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Again winning her more fans particularly in the Senela v Hailey battle.
She also worked on many non-music projects during 2020
Selena also took on lots of nonmusic projects during 2020 which brought her further into the limelight including her cooking show, Selena + Chef, in August, her Rare Beauty line in September and filming her starring role in the upcoming Hulu series Only Murders in the Building.
Collaboration with BlackPink increased her appeal
Fans of Gomez will also remember the collaboration with BlackPink for “Ice Cream” which hit no. 13 on Hot 100 and became K-pop group’s highest-charting US hit to date.
“Blackpink is an incredible group and their album is awesome, and I thought it would be so fun to step into a whole different world, so it was a no-brainer,” says Gomez. “It was very different from any music I’ve done, but that was the point. The idea of doing something with a dominant girl group, bringing their culture here — and obviously they did equal for me over there — it just seemed so perfect.”
As a businesswoman, Selena used the opportunity to mix up marketing, there was custom ice cream flavors from Serendipity to social giveaways and even an icecream truck delivering treats around LA.
Fans continued to show support for her in the Selena v Hailey divide, Justin Bieber had to step in
All of these things helped increase Selena’s popularity but as her popularity increased, Hailey Bieber’s popularity decreased and how Justin treated Selena angered fans even more.
In fact in December a fan of Selena Gomez tried to show her support for Selena by encouraging other fans to get back at Hailey Bieber insisting ‘Selena is better’. The troll who remained unnamed made a video on 4 December encouraging others to bombard a live video Hailey had planned. In the video, the girl says: ‘Hailey Baldwin is going to do a live, where she’s talking about herself.
‘This is the time where they will not be turning off comments, so we need to bombard that s**t with jelena and how selena is better. Go after her. Please, let’s all go after her.’
Justin Bieber came to the defense of his wife, calling the fan ‘sad excuse of a human”.
Selena, Hailey and Justin are fed up of the Selena vs. Hailey narrative
Although Selena has not directly address the Hailey, Selena and Justin triangle, a source close to Gomez told entertainment tonight;
“Selena, Justin and Hailey are all tired of the Selena vs. Hailey narrative at this point,” the source said “It’s exhausting for everyone, and they just want people to move on so they can move on too and not focus on any further negativity or past situations.”
Selena has moved on to dating Miami Heat player Jimmy Butler
Of course this may partly be due to the fact that Selena herself has moved, according to rumors she is dating the Miami Heat player Jimmy Butler. The two were caught after fans spotted them together around mid November.
Selena's bittersweet year could be due to a number of things but she is excited about 2021 projects
As we look to the future, Selena revealed to Billboard that she has “a whole little vessel of good things coming,” which could include a Spanish-language project).
“It’s nice to know that Rare became what it became for me,” adds Gomez “And obviously I would like to say that it was the best album that I’ve released so far. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna challenge myself for the next.”
Selena has had a tough year emotionally but her success speaks for itself. We are very excited to see what is next for Selena and can’t wait to find out more. Tell us what you think.
