Selena Gomez loves Benny Blanco like a love song, baby.
And the artist’s new album “I Said I Love You First” — which is also a collaboration with her fiancé — is showcasing just that.
Along with their love story, Gomez is giving fans a look at the entirety of her dating life over the years.
One song in particular could be a final goodbye to ex Justin Bieber, whom she dated on and off from 2010 to 2018.
Her track “How Does It Feel to Be Forgotten” hears Gomez, 32, sing, “’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.”
Listeners noted that Gomez’s “look at you now” line dates back to her track “Look at Her Now,” off her 2020 album, “Rare.”
The tune captured herself finding confidence after her final breakup with Bieber, 31, in 2018.
But Gomez shut down all that speculation, telling Spotify, “I would like to say most of this album has nothing to do with what everyone may go to. And I think it’s important for me to say that because I’ve evolved so much, and I have experienced life with new people. I’ve had to go through transitions with friends and lose people in my life and gain new people, and I’ve had a whole new life forever.”
The “Wizards of Waverly Place” alum added about herself and Blanco, “To me, it was about both of our pasts and our history and also just inspired by friends and relationships, like some songs were actually meant [to be] about friendships in my life and I think that’s what to me the album was about.”
Since splitting with Bieber, Gomez dated The Weekend, and was linked to Zayn Malik and Drew Taggart in 2023.
The actress and Blanco sparked romance rumors in 2023 before going public in December of that year.
And more than anything, the album encompasses Gomez’s and Blanco’s love.
“It describes us,” she said to Rolling Stone earlier this week. “This whole project embodies his stories combined with my stories. They have meanings that are really just personal to both of us. So one song could actually mean two different things. And I think it was just really cute.”
Although it wasn’t an easy road to creating the 14-track album.
“I was, to be honest, very frustrated and kind of confused on where I wanted to go next musically,” she told the outlet. “I couldn’t figure out my sound.”
But Blanco, 37, had no doubt’s his future wife would shine.
“I hadn’t seen her excited about music for a long time,” he confessed. “And I remember she was like, ‘I have to pull over the car because I’m so happy.’ And then I knew at that moment. I was like, ‘Well, if it’s making both of us happy, then hopefully it makes a few other people happy.’”
Blanco threw his perspective into the music as well, such as on their track “Scared of Loving You.”
“When she says, ‘I’m not scared of dying young or anyone,’ it really hits me,” the producer explained, “because only Selena would say something like that because of all the hardship she’s gone through. She never complains about anything ever.”
When Gomez pops up in the second verse, she sings, “If I throw a fit and get photographed / Would you take my side? Would you hold my hand?”
Which is a personal favorite for the Rare Beauty founder.
“It’s just what I would actually say to someone,” she stated to the outlet. “Like, if I lose my shit, please don’t laugh. If I do something stupid and people know, just have my side, please. Because it’s already hard enough to face it with everyone in the world.”
Along with showcasing her vulnerability, Gomez wasn’t afraid to get cheeky about her love for Blanco in songs like “Sunset Blvd” and “Cowboy.”
“I don’t like to share it a lot, but I’m a very sensual person,” she revealed to Spotify. “And I love love and sometimes I put that into words and I can feel sexy, and I love that feeling.”
“I’m more comfortable kind of playing with the lyrics than I used to be,” confessed Gomez, before giving a shout-out to fellow artists Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX, who collaborated with her on “Bluest Flame.”
“They have opened the door to this interpretive type of cheekiness in their lyrics,” she expressed. “I think there’s a little bit more freedom to play.”
