Selena Gomez is back with a new album, Rare, her first in years, and a new attitude about life and how she wants to portray herself in music videos.
Specifically, she is not down for being sexualized on-screen anymore, and her reason is pretty simple: her little sister Gracie, who is six years old. During a Q&A for her album at an iHeartRadio release party, Gomez said she refuses to make “overtly sexy” videos anymore, Us Weekly reported.
Apparently her video for “Hands to Myself” was played during the party and Gomez was embarrassed, saying, “I didn’t know you were going to play the video. My sister is here. I told my sister I will not be doing videos like that anymore. It’s not really necessary, in my opinion.”
Gomez also spoke to maturing in other ways, including the growth between Rare and Revival, which was released five years ago.
“That’s like saying what were you like from 20 to 25 — there’s so much that happens,” she said. “I feel like it’s not better, but a piece of work that I think is better. And you can tell I’ve evolved, so that’s good.”
Rare, which follows Gomez’s breakup with Justin Bieber, illnesses, kidney transplant, and time getting treatment for mental health issues, is all about her new chapter now that her married ex is no longer in her life. The first two singles from Rare, “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now,” dropped late last year and were explicitly about the heartbreak following the iconic 2010s couple’s reunion.
Gomez seems to be back on track and full of gratitude, telling the WSJ Magazine that because of her mental health journey, she feels more self-assured than ever before. “I had low self-esteem, and that’s something I work on continuously. But I feel so empowered because I’ve gained so much knowledge about what was going on mentally,” she said.
Sounds like a woman who knows what she wants.
