Selena Gomez Sought ‘Respectful Closure’ With ‘Lose You to Love Me’

Selena Gomez had one specific goal in mind when writing her hit single “Lose You to Love Me,” and it had everything to do with a past relationship.

Speaking with NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro during an episode of Weekend Edition Sunday, the 27-year-old pop star opened up about the deeper meaning behind the surface-level revelations the song featured. As it turns out, her reasoning for penning the ballad was a search for closure after the relationship (allegedly with Justin Bieber) ended.

“I felt I didn’t get a respectful closure, and I had accepted that, but I know I needed some way to just say a few things that I wish I had said,” Gomez said of her new album’s most emotional track. “It’s not a hateful song; it’s a song that is saying — I had something beautiful and I would never deny that it wasn’t that. It was very difficult and I’m happy it’s over. And I felt like this was a great way to just say, you know, it’s done, and I understand that, and I respect that, and now here I am stepping into a whole other chapter.”

She stated that she also had to find a way to understand being a victim of “certain abuse,” though she demurred about what kind of treatment she had been facing specifically.

“I think that it’s something that — I had to find a way to understand it as an adult,” she said. “And I had to understand the choices I was making. As much as I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about this, I am really proud that I can say I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt and I’ve found a way to just walk through it with as much grace as possible.”

Gomez just debuted Rare, her first new album in four years, earlier in January 2020.