Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Music / Selena Gomez

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/selena_gomez.jpg

Associated acts:
Influences:

Hit the lights
Let the music move you
Lose yourself tonight
Come alive
Let the moment take you
Lose control tonight
— "Hit the Lights"

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992 in Grand Prairie, Texas) is an American singer, actress, and producer.

After starring in the main cast of Barney & Friends for two years, Gomez later came to prominence as a teen idol associated with Disney projects, most notably the kidcom Wizards of Waverly Place. Gomez portrayed series lead Alex Russo over a span of four seasons, two television movies and a crossover with The Suite Life on Deck. She previously recurred on Hannah Montana as Mikayla, the titular character's rival.

Towards the end of her tenure with Disney, Gomez began transitioning into more adult projects, like the 2012 Harmony Korine film Spring Breakers and the 2013 thriller Getaway opposite Ethan Hawke. She also continued working on kid-oriented works during this time, lending her voice to the Hotel Transylvania films as well as co-starring in the Beverly Cleary adaptation Ramona and Beezus.

Though she doesn't actually appear in the series, Gomez additionally served as the executive producer of Netflix's 13 Reasons Why, based on the novel of the same name by Jay Asher. Though contentious among many in its approach, 13 Reasons Why became a streaming sensation and eventually ran for four seasons.

In addition to her acting career, Gomez is also well-known for her music. While at Disney, she became the frontwoman of pop band Selena Gomez & The Scene, releasing three albums with them: 2009's Kiss & Tell, 2010's A Year Without Rain, and 2011's When the Sun Goes Down. Following the band's hiatus (and eventual split) in 2012, Gomez released her solo debut, Stars Dance, in 2013. She has currently released three albums, a Greatest Hits Album, and two EPs.

Because of her extensive work with the company, Gomez is commonly associated with fellow Disney alumni Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, the latter of whom she grew up with while on Barney & Friends. Gomez and Lovato also co-starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Princess Protection Program together.

Gomez' personal life has also been subject to widespread attention, with her having publicly dated Nick Jonas, Taylor Lautner, Justin Bieber, Zedd, and The Weeknd while also have a long-standing, high-profile friendship with Taylor Swift. Gomez also became a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador in 2008; then 17 years old, she gained the distinction of being the youngest ambassador in the world at the timenote .

Gomez has been open about her struggles with physical and mental health, including a lupus diagnosis, a kidney transplant, and bipolar disorder, the lattermost being revealed publicly in April 2020.

In February 2020, she founded Rare Beauty, a cosmetic company inspired by her third album Rare. The company aims to "break down unrealistic standards of perfection by promoting inclusivity and addressing mental health initiatives and education". True to their words, the company has launched and hosted many initiatives and fund raising that directly targeted mental health. For the business side, the company has received extremely high critical and commercial success, winning numerous awards and raked in record-high profits and engagements in social medias.

Selected filmography:

As actor:

As producer:

Discography

with Selena Gomez & The Scene:

  • Kiss & Tell (2009)
  • A Year Without Rain (2010)
  • When The Sun Goes Down (2011)

as Selena Gomez:

  • Stars Dance (2013)
  • For You (2014)
  • Revival (2015)
  • Rare (2020)
  • Revelación (EP) (2021)

Hit Singles

Selected videography:

Trope 'em with kindness:

  • Advertised Extra: Pixie Lott is featured in "We Own the Night", but she mainly serves as a backup vocalist for Gomez.
  • Album Title Drop: Her third album was originally meant to fit this trope. Up until just a few weeks before it was released, it was scheduled to be titled "The Otherside", after a line in the Britney Spears written song, "Whiplash".
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: "Nobody Does It Like You" is explicitly about her "bad boy fairytale."
  • Appropriated Appellation: In a Twitter post, she revealed the name of her band to be called "The Scene". This was supposed to be an "ironic jab" at people who had called her a "wannabe" scene.
  • Anti-Hero: This status is famous in her roles.
  • Artist and the Band: In her early career, she was part of the group Selena Gomez & the Scene.
  • Auto-Tune: A Year Without Rain and Stars Dance have a lot of it, primarily for vocal effects.
  • Award-Bait Song: "Live Like There's No Tomorrow"; "Fly To Your Heart"
  • Badass Adorable: As Alex Russo.
  • Bittersweet 17: The Kygo feat. Selena Gomez track "It Ain't Me" is about someone getting drunk and their friend not looking after them because they're not kids anymore:
    I had a dream, we were back to seventeen,
    Summer nights and The Libertines, never growing up.
  • Blind Date: The music video for "Boyfriend" shows Gomez going on a few blind dates.
  • Break-Up Song: Quite a few of them.
    • With The Scene: "I Won't Apologize", "Crush", "The Way I Loved You", "I Don't Miss You At All", "Ghost of You", "Sick of You", "Bang Bang Bang", and "Middle of Nowhere"
    • As a solo artist: "Forget Forever", "Love Will Remember", "The Heart Wants What It Wants", "Same Old Love", "Camouflage", "It Ain't Me", "Rare", "Look At Her Now", "Lose You To Love Me", "Kinda Crazy", and "Cut You Off".
  • But I Would Really Enjoy It: "Outta My Hands (Loco)" is about being unable to resist someone crazy:
    They say you shouldn't sleep with someone crazier than you, cr-cr-crazier than you
    No one's crazier than you
    But you're so irresistible, I had to break the rules.
  • The Casanova: The song "Outlaw" is about men like this.
  • Celebrity Cameo: She does a very In-Joke-y one in The Muppets (2011), since Selena was the one of the stars of the second Studio DC: Almost Live special, and she doesn't even know them in the movie, only showing up because her agent said to.
  • Changed for the Video: "A Year Without Rain" was snipped in the video.
  • Changing Chorus: "Lose You to Love Me" changes the line "I needed to lose you to love me, yeah" to "I needed to hate you to love me, yeah" in the final repetition of the chorus.
  • Coming of Age Story: "Look At Her Now" is about her growth as a woman after experiencing heartbreak for several years.
  • Coolest Club Ever: Her videos for "Hit The Lights" and especially "I Want You to Know" (her collaboration with Zedd) show her dancing in one.
  • Cover Version: "As A Blonde", an unreleased song written by Fefe Dobson.
    • Her "We Own The Night" tour featured a Britney Spears medley.
    • She covers "Magic" by 1970s One-Hit Wonder Pilot on the Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrack.
    • Also recently covered "Work" by Iggy Azalea at a concert.
    • "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" by Selena, the woman she was named after. note 
    • “Only You”, from the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack is a Yazoo cover.
  • Darker and Edgier:
    • Stars Dance and the two new songs from For You.
    • Many of her movie roles since leaving Disney have gone in this direction, Spring Breakers, Neighbors 2 Sorority Rising and Getaway being prime examples.
    • From Revival, "Good for You" features explicit language from A$AP Rocky and sexual innuendos, and she curses in "Same Old Love" and "Camouflage".
  • Deadpan Snarker: Almost every character she plays is this. She also seems to be this in real life.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: In her song "Rock God", she's in a club, and a preacher asks her why she can't walk straight and live her life right. She tells him it's because of the rock music taking over her soul.
  • Double Entendre: "Birthday" is filled to the brim with double entendres with lyrics like "Blow your dreams away with me" and "Crashing into you, crashing into me (so yummy!)"
  • Dress Hits Floor: "Good For You": "Leave this dress a mess on the floor".
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Kiss & Tell is typical girly pop rock like Ashlee Simpson and Hilary Duff's earlier material. Due to "Naturally"'s success, she took a slightly more electronic and pop focused approach to her following albums.
  • Egocentric Team Naming: Selena Gomez and The Scene.
    • Which has more to do with Executive Meddling than anything. Originally, Selena Gomez wanted to be in a band, as be the lead singer, but Hollywood Records wanted to capitalize on her popularity and reduced "The Scene" to little more than a backup band. In fact, the "Scene" part stayed simply because she insisted on it. The band is no longer performing with her and she's just a solo artist now.
  • Fake Brit: In Monte Carlo (2011), in-universe and also, bizarrely, in the song "Whiplash" off of her 3rd album. However, her ancestry is from The Black Country in the Midlands, so not quite a Fake Brit. Her Texan accent hides the fact she is of English ancestry though.
  • Fan Community Nickname: Selenators.
  • The Fashionista: Not only in her clothing choice, but as she is deeply involved with the design of her fashion lines, Dream Out Loud and the charity-based Selena Gomez NEO.
  • Follow Your Heart: "Intuition", "Tell Me Something I Don't Know", "Spotlight", "Hit The Lights" and "Who Says".
    • A few of the Revival tracks touch on this trope as well, like "Rise", "Survivors", "Kill 'Em With Kindness" and the title track.
  • Friendship Song: She sings about friendship with Pixie Lott in "We Own the Night".
  • Gayngst: In "Bad Liar", Gomez plays a teenage high school girl who harbors a secret crush on her female gym teacher and is an outcast because of it.
  • Genre Roulette: "When The Sun Goes Down" plays with a lot of styles.
    • Kiss & Tell is also diverse, going from the Power Pop of "Falling Down'' to the techno-dance of "Naturally" to the pop-punk of "I Don't Miss You At All" to something of a New Wave Music sound on "I Got U".
  • God-Is-Love Songs: Selena claimed in a Twitter Q&A that "Nobody" from Revival is addressed to God.
  • Heavy Meta: "Love You Like A Love Song" is a catchy pop song describing a love interest as being stuck in her head like a catchy pop song.
  • Hotter and Sexier: Not to the level of Demi Lovato, but like many teen idols, it's definitely there. Revival brings this trope into full force.
  • I Am the Band: Selena Gomez & The Scene was touted as a full band, but on closer inspection, the band itself has no credits, writing/production otherwise on any of their albums. Selena is the only member with production credits, leading to the speculation that the band is for touring/promotion purposes, most likely to make her distinct from Disney Channel's other pop star, Miley Cyrus. For what it's worth, Selena and her fans do not count her time with The Scene as part of her solo discography and consider it a separate project.
  • Identical Stranger: Without lupus, she would look exactly like Debby Ryan.
    • She has also been compared in looks with Lucy Hale.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Her releases for Interscope Records, Revival, Rare and the Spanish-language EP Revelación all begin with the letter "R".
  • In Da Club: "Save The Day", "Stars Dance", "B.E.A.T.", "When The Sun Goes Down".
  • Intercourse with You: "Whiplash", "Birthday", "Slow Down", "Come & Get It", "Undercover", "Nobody Does It Like You", "Do It", "Hands To Myself", "Good For You", "Body Heat", "Outta My Hands (Loco)", and "Fetish" all reference sex. "Birthday" is arguably the most explicit as it features moaning.
  • Lampshade Hanging: "Love You Like a Love Song".
  • Lighter and Softer:
    • Kiss & Tell is mainly a pop-rock album full of angsty lyrics directed at bullies and exes. The next album, A Year Without Rain, shifted Gomez's sound to synth-pop songs about love and self-empowerment.
    • The first two singles of Rare is meant to portray this. "Lose You to Love Me" is an emotional piano ballad about saying goodbye to a hurtful lover. The music video was shot in black and white and showed Gomez evolving from anxious to confident. Following "Lose You to Love Me" was "Look At Her Now", an upbeat dance-pop song about her newfound confidence. The music video is full of color.
  • Love Hurts: "The Heart Wants What It Wants".
  • Love Is a Drug:
    • "Come & Get It": "Forever you're mine/Baby, I'm addicted, no lie, no lie"
    • "Fun": "You get me higher than my medication"
  • Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: "Cologne" has lyrics such as "Every time I think about you, I can feel my hand give in".
  • Medley: Performed a Britney Spears medley on her 2011 tour.
  • Mind Screw: The video for her song "Love You Like A Love Song". It's not up to Lady Gaga music video level, but if her videos get more mindscrewy, she'll be up there. Though Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you consider that karaoke backgrounds are often random.
  • Mock Headroom: The music video for "Love You like a Love Song" shows Selena dressed in a suit and sunglasses inside a TV screen.
  • Mood Whiplash: The uptempo, in-love techno-dance song "Naturally" is directly followed on Kiss & Tell by one of her biggest tear jerkers, the breakup piano ballad, "The Way I Loved You".
    • "The Way I Loved You" is in turn followed by "More", an edgy pop-rock song about partying.
  • The Muse: Her on-and-off exboyfriend Justin Bieber is a frequent inspiration for her songs, most notably on Rare. She herself is speculated to be the inspiration for several song of The Weeknd My Dear Melancholy.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez (1971-1995).
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: As Alex on Wizards of Waverly Place. Averted in Monte Carlo (2011).
  • New Sound Album: After the success of Naturally she decided to make A Year Without Rain pure dance pop!
  • Posthumous Collaboration: Virtually duetted with her namesake Selena on a cover of "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" for a Selena remix album in 2012.
  • Prayer Pose: Does one in the "Lose You to Love Me" video, which takes place in a confessional.
  • Product Placement: The "Hands to Myself" video has a Dr. Dre Beats speaker in it.
  • Refugee from TV Land: By the end of "Love You Like A Love Song", her fantasy boyfriends in the karaoke music video make appearance in the karaoke lounge, still dressed in the outfits they wear in said video.
  • Rearrange the Song: "A Year Without Rain" and "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" both were re-arranged for video and for album release. "Tell Me Something" was updated, while "A Year Without Rain" got a snip for the video.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Similarly to Hilary Duff (see Spiritual Successor), she left her label, amicably dismissed her mother as manager (they remain friendly) and her Dream Out Loud fashion line when things became too hectic and confining for her, opting for more creative/personal freedom. She has much more input and control over her life and career than she had with Disney.
  • Secret Relationship: "Undercover" is all about wanting to be alone with her lover.
  • Self-Backing Vocalist: "Lose You to Love Me"
  • Sexy Packaging: The alternate cover for Revival.
  • Shout-Out: "Bad Liar" interpolates the bassline from "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads; because of this, Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth, who composed the original riff, is given a writing credit on the song.
  • Show Within a Show: Well, a video inside a video in her music video "Love you Like a Love Song". Granted, it's justified as she's singing it at a Karaoke Bar.
  • Silly Love Songs: "I Promise You", "Naturally", "A Year Without Rain", "Off The Chain", "Summer's Not Hot", "Love You Like a Love Song", "Whiplash", "Stars Dance", "Write Your Name", "Music Feels Better", "Lover In Me", "I Want You to Know", "Bad Liar", and "Crowded Room".
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: "Boyfriend" is about wanting someone who won't hurt her the way her exes have.
  • Stalker with a Crush: "I Got U" is arguably about this from the view of the stalker.
    • The "Hands to Myself" music video shows Selena as a stalker who breaks into her Celeb Crush's house.
  • Subdued Section: "I Won't Apologize", "People You Know"
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: "I Don't Miss You At All".
  • Take That!:
    • "Falling Down" is said to be one to Hollywood in general.
    • She called her band "The Scene" as an ironic Take That! against those who criticized her love of indie bands and boho chic fashion as taking part in a "wannabe scene".
    • "Kiss & Tell" and "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" are about Hollywood culture too and/or her haters.
    • "Stop & Erase" is one to bullies.
    • "Kill 'Em With Kindness" describes her approach to dealing with her hatedom.
  • Textless Album Cover:
    • Both editions of Revival.
    • The single cover of "Falling Down".
  • Title Track: Each of her three albums has one of these.
  • Tsundere:
    • "Round & Round" seems to be about a male variant of this trope.
    • "I Like It That Way":
    You're so you (Ew, gross!)
    But there's something about you that's making me feel like I do with you
  • Turn the Other Cheek: "Kill Em With Kindness" encourages this.
  • Vocal Dissonance: Her voice is quite a bit deeper than you'd expect from her appearance.
  • Wham Shot: In "Bad Liar", the teenage high school daughter is shown fawning over a Polaroid of her secret crush who is revealed to be her high school female gym teacher.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: "I Got U" as one example.
  • A Wild Rapper Appears!: Tim Sendra in "Tell Me Something I Don't Know", Eric Bellinger in "Intuition", A$AP Rocky in "Good For You," and Gucci Mane in "Fetish."
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The overall message of "Who Says".
Who says you're not worth it

Alternative Title(s): Selena Gomez And The Scene

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top