Selena Gomez‘s powerful Apple TV+ doco My Mind & Me has finally dropped, and it includes a ton of revelations about her mental health journey. I absolutely want to give her a big fkn hug now.
In the documentary, she explained why her high-profile split with Justin Bieber was actually one of the best things that’s ever happened to her.
She was talking about the production of her banger “Lose You to Love Me”: an epic breakup anthem if there ever was one.
Now, Selena doesn’t mention Justin by name here — but “Lose You to Love Me” is widely believed to be about her split with him. It was released soon after his engagement to Hailey Baldwin.
The song was produced by Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter.
According to the doco, Selena texted them to say, “I think I’m ready to just say I’m sad”, per Entertainment Tonight.
Honestly, I fkn love this sentiment. Breakups are terrible for a multitude of reasons, but the deep, lingering sadness is very hard to shake.
Selena said they wrote the song in 45 minutes: the fastest she’s ever written a song.
The song ultimately has an uplifting message out of all that sadness.
“It’s about more than a lost love. It’s me learning to choose myself, to choose life, but also hoping that people can find grace and peace in that too,” she said.
“The song is about knowing that you completely lost every part of who you are just to rediscover yourself again.”
View this post on Instagram
Selena and Justin dated on and off from 2011 to 2018. As a 2010s tween, I would argue they were THE era-defining celebrity couple.
Back when Justin was a wee baby at 15, he said Selena was his “celebrity crush”. Scooter Braun (ugh) called Selena’s mum-slash-manager to introduce them, according to a 2011 interview she gave to David Letterman.
There was always a fkn ton of media scrutiny on their relationship, and it didn’t stop when Justin and Hailey got hitched.
Indeed, just a few weeks ago Hailey and Selena were snapped together after years of speculation that there was beef between the two.
In the documentary, Selena said she felt “haunted by a past relationship that no one wanted to let go of”.
“Everything was so public.”
But she explained how she was able to move past the heartbreak.
“I feel like I had to go through the worst possible heartbreak ever and then just forgetting everything at the drop of the hand, it was really confusing,” she said.
“But I just think that needed to happen and ultimately it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
The doco also touches on the toll Selena felt at being constantly associated with Justin. The clip comes from rehearsals for her Revival tour in 2016. Record label head John Janick had asked her to do a song with the Biebs.
In the clip, Selena spoke emotionally about not wanting to disappoint Janick.
“I don’t want him to think that he signed some fucking Disney kid,” she said.
“He called me this morning about the song with Justin. Like, when am I just going to be good enough by myself?”
I’m frankly just super happy to see Selena’s getting the time to share her story. And if after this Justin Bieber ends up as a mere footnote in the tale, then I’m fkn glad.
