The best part of a breakup for a pop star? You can pour all that heartache and drama into your music.
That’s exactly what Selena Gomez does on “Rare,” her new LP, which came out Friday. It’s her first album since her breakup with longtime on-again, off-again beau Justin Bieber — and his subsequent marriage to Hailey Baldwin.
Although she doesn’t name any names, here’s where we think the 27-year-old singer could be sounding off on the end of Jelena.
“Rare”
The first words that come out of Gomez’s mouth on the album seem to allude directly to Biebs. “Baby, you’ve been so distant to me lately / And lately don’t even want to call you ‘baby,’ ” an unappreciated Gomez sings at the beginning of the title track. Of course, Bieber scored one of his first hits with his 2010 single “Baby.” But no matter who the no-good dude is, she’s feeling herself and knows she deserves better.
Given the young blossoming of their rocky relationship, it certainly sounds as if Gomez is singing about Bieber on this electro-infused track: “It was her first real lover / His too till he had another / Oh God, when she found out / Trust levels went way down.”
“Lose You to Love Me”
Easily the best song on “Rare,” the album’s first single — which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — finds self-love after heartbreak. “I needed to hate you to love me,” she sings on this empowering ballad, one of three tunes co-written by Julia Michaels.
“People You Know”
Gomez engages in some wistful reflection on how two people can go from lovers to strangers: “We used to be close / But people can go from people you know / To people you don’t.”
“Kinda Crazy”
On this deceptively breezy ditty, Gomez calls her guy out for his “super-shady” relationship behavior. “Been dodging phone calls lately / But still texting me baby / Yeah, I think you’re kinda crazy.”
“Cut You Off”
A fed-up Gomez is ready to chop some “extra weight” right out of her life on this mid-tempo kiss-off. She even alludes to the role said extra weight played in her own mental-health struggles: “Emotionally messing with my health / How could I confuse that s–t for love?”
