Selena Gomez’s new album Revival releases October 9th.
At
just 23 years old, Selena is already a Hollywood veteran. She made her
debut at age 7 on Barney and Friends, became a Disney star, moved into
film (from Ramona and Beezus to Spring Breakers), and
released five albums. Along the way, she’s had high-profile
relationships with Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber and became part of BFF Taylor Swift’s #girlsquad, appearing in the singer’s buzzy “Bad Blood” music video.
This past year has been all about change for Selena, as she’s taking
control of her career. She has a new management team, left her old
record label for Interscope Records, and is launching a new album,
Revival October 9th. Selena is also the new face of Pantene’s Strong is Beautiful campaign, which seems like the perfect tagline for the confident star.
Interviewing Selena, it’s hard not to notice how thoughtful she is. When I asked Selena a question from my 8-year-old niece Sydney, she didn’t give the light answer I expected. She went deeper, saying, “You just have to challenge yourself and guard your heart.” The self-made star also talked openly about dealing with fame — “I never intended my life to be this exposed” — and about what she really wants out of her career — “I want to use my platform and my voice in a meaningful way.” As a driven, self-reflective star with this much talent, I can’t wait to see how her revival goes.
Interviewing Selena, it’s hard not to notice how thoughtful she is. When I asked Selena a question from my 8-year-old niece Sydney, she didn’t give the light answer I expected. She went deeper, saying, “You just have to challenge yourself and guard your heart.” The self-made star also talked openly about dealing with fame — “I never intended my life to be this exposed” — and about what she really wants out of her career — “I want to use my platform and my voice in a meaningful way.” As a driven, self-reflective star with this much talent, I can’t wait to see how her revival goes.
Bobbi Brown: Hey Selena! So nice to talk to you. Where are you right now?
Selena Gomez: I’m in Miami. I was doing press for Hotel Transylvania 2. Kicking it with some little kids.
When
I told my 8-year-old niece that I was interviewing you, she was like
“Oh my God, Aunt Bobbi, you are so lucky.” I said, “What you would ask
her if you could?” She said, “I would ask her to give me any kind of
advice. Like, what do I need to know to grow up to have a good life?”
Oh,
my goodness! Eight! Well, for me, I started acting when I was 7. I’ve
always worked very hard. I was really terrible at math and certain
things in school, but I full-on just dedicated my life to working really
hard. I come from nothing, literally, and my mom has always been my
idol. I look up to her. She’s just great and has done more and better
for herself. You just have to challenge yourself and guard your heart,
because now with social media there is so much access to people’s
feelings and their hearts more than ever. That’s my main thing. I am so
terrified for my little sister to go to school because everything has
changed and gotten a little bit more intense. Obviously don’t tell her
that part, but I would say to guard your heart and that’s an important
part. Respect family and cherish your mom and everything you have around
you.
That’s
great life advice for an 8-year-old, or anyone really. I agree with you
about social media. How do you deal with the negativity of social
media? Are you able to ignore it?
Sometimes.
And to be honest, I’ve had a week of deleting my Instagram off my
phone, so I didn’t have it, and I would have to go to my laptop if I
wanted to post something — so that I wouldn’t get caught up in it. You
always get wrapped up in it. You look at one image and then you’re on
different pages, and then you are 52 weeks in, and it’s just a lot. I
don’t know how I can get through it other than to just know that it
isn’t real. I have to put my phone down and look up and look at life and
know that I’m in this moment that I’ll never have again, and I need to
enjoy it and not give in to those people.
You sound like an old soul. You seem very grown up for someone your age.
Thank
you. I’m definitely an old soul. My mom always jokes and says that I
was born in the wrong era. I didn’t know how Spotify worked. I didn’t
have a Twitter until ages ago. It was that kind of stuff to me has never
been important. My mom listened to Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, and
Nat King Cole. I grew up with my mom as an inspiration; she was an
incredibly artistic, free person, and I loved that. I admire that in
her, and that has trickled down to me a little.
You’re
so incredibly famous. You’ve been in the public eye forever. Can you go
out with your friends and have dinner? Or is there always somebody
hounding, ready to take a picture? Can you ever be normal?
It
depends. I know my places. It’s good to know different spots that you
can go to. My friends, luckily, are kind of … I don’t draw attention to
myself, is what I’m getting at. If I came from Press and I’m in a
gorgeous dress and I go out for drinks, people are going to notice. But
to be honest, I’m in jeans, pumps, and a cute blazer and my hair in a
bun, and that’s just kind of my vibe. So you just kind of have to be
like: OK, what type of evening do I want to have? Do I want to just go
out and not be recognized at all, or be OK with it and look nice and
just kind of enjoy the night? It just depends.
Do you ever just want to escape and lock your door and be by yourself?
I
think for a while I was spending too much time alone. I can sit with
myself and think about what I want to think about, cry if I need to cry,
listen to music, and be in your own silence — be still. And I think
that’s great for everybody to do. But for a while, with all of the
scrutiny, I never intended my life to be this exposed. That wasn’t my
goal. I wasn’t like, “I want to be superfamous and known, and everybody
needs to touch my life.” I love my job. I work really hard at it. I just
want it to be about what I love. I think because of that, I needed to
understand that being alone is good, but I also really need to be with
people. I was scared. I was scared of trusting people, of letting people
in. My roommates would come down and ask to sit with me, and I would be
like, “No, I don’t feel good.” Now, I am understanding the balance
better. I need people to hear me, and my best friends are my best
friends. It was just easier for me to just deal with it all by myself
and open the door and put on a face and go through my day. Now I am able
to sit with it and talk it out.
Have you found anything that really helps, whether it’s exercise, yoga, talking it out?
Yeah,
absolutely. I started doing Pilates. I love the active movement in
Pilates. If I don’t work out, I feel heavy. Everything about me just
feels a little bit down. And sometimes I will just run on the treadmill
and get emotional because it sort of relieves everything that you’re
feeling. Also, little things: I love cooking. That makes me feel very
calm, and it makes me feel like a normal person.
What do you cook?
I
cook everything. I’m not a baker because I can’t follow recipes. I can
do a little bit of that, but I don’t like it. I do stir-fry, lettuce
wraps, pad thai, and I can do tons of pasta dishes. I love casseroles.
I’m from Texas. I just bought a fryer, so I made fried chicken and
waffles the other morning.
I
love to cook, and it settles me and makes me feel good. I happen to be a
health fanatic, because I think that also helps when you’re not 100
percent. What works for you?
I
love ginger shots with a little turmeric in it. Because I travel so
much, I usually take one every day. I do have a juicer. I’ll try to fit
everything in that.
Part of Taylor Swift’s #girlsquad. Photo: Instagram
Your new campaign for Pantene is called Strong is Beautiful. I think that’s an awesome tagline. Is it relatable to you?
Of
course. I think this has been a huge transitional year for me. I got a
new team. I started working with Pantene. The biggest thing for me is
that I met with them three or four times before we did anything, because
we both wanted to get to know each other. I don’t want to put my name
on something — that’s not me. I don’t want a paycheck. I’ve been working
my ass off for so long that I just want to do what I love and I want to
use my platform. I don’t want to just be a famous person. I want to use
my platform and my voice in a meaningful way. They were totally down
for that. They have the Beautiful Lengths campaign, which is: Donate
eight inches of hair or $8 to contribute to making real hair wigs for
women as they’re undergoing cancer treatment. We just talked through all
of it, and it’s just where I am in my life. I feel like it’s the best
place I’ve ever been. I feel confident, I feel liberated, I love the
place I’m in, and it just kind of worked out perfectly.
Your
hair always looks good, and I’m sure you probably have a hairdresser
most of the time, like many women in the spotlight. Are you good at
blow-drying your own hair?
I
can. I have to be honest, when I have extensions in, it’s way harder. I
go for the natural look when I’m on my down time. I will use the hair
oil. There’s this amazing hair oil that Pantene has. I’ll put some of
the hairspray and crunch it in for these natural, beachy waves. I kind
of go the easy route when I’m doing it myself.
When you’re having not a good hair day, what do you do to your hair? Bun or ponytail?
I’m a bun girl, for sure. If I’m having a bad hair day, my ponytail isn’t going to look good.
I
think the bun is the best hair trend out there. I can’t blow-dry my
hair, by the way. So I do rely on hairdressers. Thank God for the bun.
I know. I feel you.
On tour with Taylor Swift. Photo: Instagram
What about makeup? Do you love natural or trendy?
I
love makeup. I love being able to embellish certain things and parts of
my face and adding great products and glitter or whatever, but I can’t
rely on it. In this industry, when you have people do your makeup every
day, there comes a moment when you’re just seeing your face that way,
and that’s not your face. It’s like I have moments when I wake up, and
I’m like, “Whoa, I look a little crazy right now.” I think for me, it’s
just about a perspective on it. I have so much fun. I do my roommate’s
makeup, we go out, I love that, but I never want to rely on it. I
honestly don’t care what style it is. If I’m doing a concert, I will
tell them to do a really cool, edgy smoky eye. And if I’m doing a
morning show, I will say to go natural. You kind of go with the flow.
Your
new album Revival is really about showing a new side of you. You have a
new team, a new label. There’s a lot of newness. That must be feeling
really amazing. I love starting over.
I
mean, yeah, I was terrified. I’m not good with change. I’m very loyal
and committed, and I like being that way. But at the same time, I was
being shoved into this corner … not forcefully or anything, but I felt
like I was being held in one place, and I was just desperate to be out
of it and to feel something else. I wanted to be heard. That’s why I
reached the point where I needed to make some really big changes in my
life and do it all at once and take a chance. I met Debbie Amin, my
agency, and John Janet became someone I ended up confiding in most of
the time. That’s how Interscope happened. I followed my gut, followed my
heart, and now I’ve been working with them for a year. I have to say it
feels good. It feels right. It feels like we have a fluid system.
Is there anything you want to try, that you haven’t yet?
I
would love to do something like own a café or something. I don’t know
where, but that would be a goal of mine. But I don’t even think I’ve
scratched the surface of acting. I really want to take a good amount of
time to focus on that. I really, really think I haven’t done something
in that world yet where I think, “This is going to be incredible, this
is going to be the one.” And that is something I want to tackle too.
I can’t wait to see what you do next. It was so nice talking to you Selena. Good luck with everything.
Thanks, Bobbi! September 24, 2015
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