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- Selena Gomez is in the process of recording her third studio album with Interscope Records.
- In 2022, she confirmed that her next album would have 24 songs and cover her “private life” that no one knows about.
- In 2023, she said the music is about “freedom from relationships, freedom from the darkness.”
- Ahead of the new album’s release, Selena announced she’d be dropping a song called “Single Soon” on Aug. 25, 2023.
New music from Selena Gomez is closer than ever. On Aug. 17, the singer took to Instagram to confirm that her third album under Interscope Records is coming…eventually. Luckily, there will be a song to hold us over until then. “Y’all have been asking for new music for a while,” Selena wrote. “Since I’m not quite done with SG3, I wanted to put out a fun little song I wrote a while back that’s perfect for the end of summer. SINGLE SOON. August 25th. Presave it now.”
It’s been nearly four years since Selena released her last album, Rare, in Jan. 2020. That record was followed up by a shocking statement from Selena in March 2021, when she hinted that she may be retiring from music all together. However, in March 2023, Selena reassured fans that she was hard at work in the studio.
“The music I’m doing right now is about real things that I’m walking through,” she told Vanity Fair for its 29th annual Hollywood Issue in 2023. Speaking of the follow-up to 2020’s Rare, Selena said the new album is “really powerful, strong, very pop. The theme generally is freedom—freedom from relationships, freedom from the darkness.”
While Selena’s music career has seemingly taken a pause following her success with Only Murders in the Building, she hasn’t stopped working on the next collection of music. When a fan asked Selena in 2022 that eternal question – “Where is the album?” – Selena gave some good news. “Oh, it’s coming,” she said, per Billboard. Later that year, she released the song “My Mind and Me,” the title track to her 2022 documentary film.
“[‘My Mind and Me’] happened in a really organic way,” Selena told Vulture in an interview about the new documentary and corresponding song. “I went through this moment where I was allowing people into my life through my journal, these producers who worked on the song and know me very well; we’ve worked together for a very long time. I remember releasing all of this stuff to them, and I was scared of what they were going to think.”
“But ‘My Mind and Me,’ the idea and the chorus, came up, and it was really moving to me,” she added. “These people took my story and made it something bigger than me. I was really grateful — I keep saying that, but I truly am someone who’s grateful for these moments. It’s crazy to realize it’s about to be released to everyone else who may feel how I felt.”
“My Mind and Me” peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100. While it wasn’t a commercial smash hit, it resonated with fans going through similar tribulations. It also hinted that Selena’s next full-length was around the corner. Check out everything else we know about Selena’s upcoming album below!
Selena Gomez’s Music History
Ever since Selena’s first single – 2008’s “Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know,” off of the soundtrack to the Another Cinderella Story soundtrack – fans flocked to her voice, as there was just something special about this Selena. Over the next ten years, she would come into her own as a musical artist, first as part of Selena Gomez & The Scene and then as a solo artist. While part of The Scene, Selena released three studio albums: Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When The Sun Goes Down (2011). The records were successful, as all were certified Gold, but it was clear that Selena was destined for something more.
Stars Dance, Selena’s first full-length solo album, arrived in 2013. The album’s lead single, “Come & Get It,” signaled a sea change for Selena. The song veered more towards electro-pop and was a smash hit. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart, and as of 2021, the music video has over 700 million views. In 2015, Selena released the For You EP (featuring “The Heart Wants What It Wants,” not the first nor the last song Selena would write about Justin Bieber, but one that has come to define their complicated relationship) as well as her second album, Revival. The album brought Selena to a new level of success, going Platinum and spawning four hits – “Good For You,” “Same Old Love,” “Hands to Myself,” and “Kill Em With Kindness.” She would get her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 with her single, “Lose You To Love Me,” off 2020’s Rare. As of May 2021, Rare has been certified Gold and is packed with Platinum-certified singles “Bad Liar,” “Fetish” (featuring Gucci Mane), “Wolves,” and “Back To You.”
2021 saw Selena Revelación, a seven-track EP, and her first release to be prominently in Spanish. In 2022, she lent her vocals to a remix of Rema’s “Calm Down” and joined Coldplay to sing on “Let Somebody Go” from their Grammy-nominated Music of the Spheres. But, beyond that, there hasn’t been much from Sel, music-wise.
When Will Selena Gomez’s New Album (SG3) Be Released?
As of February 2023, there is no release date for “SG3” or confirmation that the album is on the way. While speaking with Vulture in 2022 about My Mind & Me and new music, Selena said she’d been hard at work on new music — for longer than some might think.
“We’ve actually been working for years on this new record, only because I want to be able to grow through my music,” she said. “I am the person who’s terrified of what will happen once it’s out, so I want it to be really well done and representative of where I am. There is a bunch of fun stuff that I’m so eager to leak, if I’m being honest. I shall not. But I’m so excited. It’ll be fun and refreshing, I think.”
An interview with Rolling Stone in 2022 hinted at a 2023 release. Per the outlet, she “may start recording by the end of the year.” In May 2022, she appeared on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast. “I just finished season four of my cooking show, and I am in LA working on my album now,” she said, per PopSugar.
What Is Selena Gomez’s New Album Called?
As of February 2023, it’s unclear what her (unconfirmed) album would be called. The album is currently under the “SG3” moniker. This started in 2021, when Selena whipped her fans into a frenzy by posting an Instagram story of her wearing a bracelet bearing the letters “SG3.”
The letters – shorthand for “Selena Gomez’s third album” – gave fans more hope since the IG Story came on the heels of a 2021 Vogue interview where she admitted she was almost done with music. “I’ve had moments where I’ve been like, ‘What’s the point? Why do I keep doing this?’” she said. Judging by her fans’ reaction, the point might be the happiness Selena’s music brings to so many.
For those who might be keeping track, it might be odd for Selena to hint that her next album would be “SG3” when she’s already put out three solo albums (Stars Dance, Revival, Rare) and three albums with Selena Gomez & The Scene. According to fan lore, seemingly confirmed by Selena’s bracelet, Selena’s first solo album doesn’t count.
Stars Dance was released on Hollywood Records, the label owned and operated by Disney Music Group. Selena, as a teenager, first tasted fame as an actor on the Disney Channel television series, Wizards of Waverly Place (not to mention her role on Hannah Montana, another Disney property.) Many fans theorize that Selena didn’t have artistic control or could express herself completely during part of the Disney organization. Revival and Rare were released on Interscope, and fans consider them more true to her voice. So, this unnamed, unconfirmed album would be “SG3.”
“It’s hard to keep doing music when people don’t necessarily take you seriously,” Selena explained in that Vogue interview. “‘Lose You to Love Me’ I felt was the best song I’ve ever released, and for some people, it still wasn’t enough. I think there are a lot of people who enjoy my music, and for that, I’m so thankful for that I keep going, but I think the next time I do an album it’ll be different. I want to give it one last try before I maybe retire [from] music.”
She later walked back the “retirement” talk. “The idea of retirement for me isn’t that I would leave forever, it is that I do see myself taking a significant break from music,” she told USA Today in 2022. “Not personally — I think I’ll always be creating and doing music and hopefully maybe even do some side projects with people. I just want to maybe take a step back, but I’m not doing that anytime soon.”
What Songs Are On Selena Gomez’s New Album?
Selena has yet to confirm the tracklist for SG3. When she announced the release of “Single Soon,” she did not reveal whether or not it would be one of the tracks included on the album. In fact, her Instagram caption hinted that it would be more of a one-off single to hold fans over until she had more to share.
In that 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, she hinted that a new album could contain dozens of new tracks and debut next year. She said she hopes to “round out the 24 songs she’s already written for her next album” and teased what it would all be about. “It’ll just be fun stories of me living my life and going on dates and having conversations with myself,” she told the outlet. “I feel like it’s going be an album that’s like, ‘Oh, she’s not in that place anymore; she’s actually just living life.’”
She doubled down on the romance angle in a Nov. 2022 interview with Zane Lowe while talking about My Mind & Me. “To be honest, I’m now telling stories that people don’t know. People I’ve dated that people don’t know,” she said. Experiences I’ve had that people don’t know. I’ve created this private life that’s just mine. Now I have to tell these stories, and people are going to ask a lot of questions!” she exclaimed.
What Will Selena Gomez’s New Record Sound Like?
“If I had my way, I would probably write ballads my whole life, but I want to produce music that will make people smile,” Selena told Vanity Fair in 2023. “The music I’m doing right now is about real things that I’m walking through. It’s really powerful, strong, very pop. The theme generally is freedom—freedom from relationships, freedom from the darkness.
Selena Gomez might incorporate more songs in Spanish into her next music project. After murals popped up in Mexico hinting that Selena had something in Spanish on the way, Gomez released two singles, “De Una Vez” and “Baila Conmigo,” in January 2021, right before she announced the Revelación EP.
“I think if anything, I’ve learned just that during this pandemic,” she told Zane Lowe on Apple Music in January 2021. “It’s been pretty heavy, but in general, it’s allowed me to be patient with my choices. And obviously, I’m very vocal, too, about what’s going on, but this has been something I’ve wanted to do for ten years, working on a Spanish project, because I’m so, so proud of my heritage, and just genuinely felt like I wanted this to happen,” she explained. “And it happened, and I feel like it’s the perfect timing. Just with all the division in the world, there’s something about Latin music that globally just makes people feel things, you know?”
“You know what’s funny,” she added, “is I actually think I sing better in Spanish. That was something I discovered. It was a lot of work, and look, you cannot mispronounce anything. It is something that needed to be precise, and needed to be respected by the audience I’m going to release this for.”
A day after releasing “My Mind & Me,” Selena spoke with Zane Loweof Apple Music 1 about the song and her shift away from sad songs. “This has been very weird and tricky because I’m no longer in ‘sad girl world,’ if that makes sense,” she told Zane. “And it is kind of all I’ve known. And that sounds kind of bad, and obviously, not all of my music is that. Obviously, I want it to be fun, but I’ve been having a hard time, honestly.”
“I’ve definitely written and have at least 12 songs that I do love,” she continued, “but I don’t know if I just don’t feel confident with it yet for some reason. And I want to continue to keep getting better so that I don’t, obviously, don’t want to go back. I want to be able to be forward thinking and give myself a whole new lane, and just try it. So I’ve been experimenting a lot, but it is getting closer. It’s just a bit frustrating… I want to dance, Zane, so bad because I need to.”
Who Will Feature On Selena Gomez’s New Album?
Rare saw appearances by just 6ack (“Crowded Room”) and Kid Cudi (“A Sweeter Place”), and neither song was released as an official single. Revival only had one guest appearance, and that was A$AP Rocky with “Good For You.” Stars Dance had no features, while Revelación boasted appearances by Rauw Alejandro, Myke Towers, and DJ Snake. Selena may stay the course and just have one or two guest stars on this rumored album. But, at this point, it’s all speculation.
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If Selena chooses that she has one album left in her before calling it a career, then she can rest easy knowing that she has been the soundtrack for millions of fans who have grown up beside her. Those same fans are currently excited for her new song and “SG3,” whenever it arrives.
