Taylor Isenberg
Associate Editor
Selena Gomez, Disney Channel alum turned solo artist, recently released two new singles through Apple Music and Spotify titled “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now,” possibly reflective of her past relationships with teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber and R&B artist The Weekend.
Both singles are unique and tell similar messages of empowerment and independence following breakups.
“Lose You To Love Me” is a pop ballad about people regaining their strength and finding themselves after toxic relationships. The vulnerable song comes within weeks of ex-boyfriend Bieber tying the knot to model Hailey Baldwin.
With its background vocals and soft piano, this hit is likely to become a pop ballad classic.
With lyrics such as,
“I needed to lose you to find me.
This dance, it was killing me softly
I needed to hate you to love me, yeah”
Gomez describes needing to despise the person who hurt her in order to love herself.
“Look At Her Now” is a boppy, feminist anthem adjacent to “Lose You To Love Me.” The song was released soon after the emotional first single and is the upbeat response to the first. The song details independence after a crumbling relationship that has left her reinventing and finding herself.
“Look At Her Now” describes Gomez’s on-again, off-again relationship with Bieber, going into depth about her “first real lover” and how “they fell in love one summer.” Bieber and Gomez dated from 2010 to 2014, breaking up, then reconnecting in 2017, according to an Oct. 31 article by Cosmopolitian.com.
The music videos for both singles were shot entirely on an iPhone 11 Pro and were edited on the Filmic Pro app for iPhone. Sponsored by AT&T, both singles released by Gomez have been advertised online through YouTube and other social media sites. Apple released a cut of the music video gaining 2.8 million views, while the video on Gomez’s official YouTube channel has 58 million views overall.
Gomez wrote “Look At Her Now” with pop artist Julia Michaels, a decorated musician and songwriter with hits such as “Issues” and “Uh Huh.” “Look At Her Now” could be played in dance clubs and could be remixed by electronic dance DJs to make the song more choppy and intense for EDM fans.
Gomez’s third album is projected to be released sometime soon, four years after her album, “Revival” flooded the charts with hits like “Hands To Myself,” “Same Old Love” and “Kill Em With Kindness.” The Texas native has been in the spotlight since her last album, appearing publicly at the Met Gala in 2018, but she has not released any music due to her health issues. Gomez, 27, has struggled with Lupus, an auto-immune disease, since 2015. She had a kidney transplant last summer to save her life.
The two new singles start a new era for the singer. Her lyrics in “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now” describe a powerful, independent Gomez contrasting to the romantic and sexy aesthetic of “Revival.”
It’s clear to Selenators, her fanbase, and even newcomers that Gomez has matured since her Disney Channel days, separating and maturing from the children’s and pre-teen fanbase. Like other Disney stars such as Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, fans have grown up with Gomez, going through similar experiences as she has.
This new era of Gomez is sure to be one to remember and to solidify the singer in the music industry even more.