Selena Gomez on her greatest role to date and romance with Benny Blanco: ‘I’ve never been loved this way’
Audiard admitted he only knew Gomez vaguely from seeing her in Spring Breakers and Woody Allen movies A rainy day in New York. But when she auditioned for Emilia Perez, He knew pretty quickly that he wanted to hire her. As for Gascón, she was extremely familiar with Gomez, in part because she has a 13-year-old daughter who is a huge fan. “There’s something special about her,” Gascón says of Gomez. Needless to say, her daughter was excited about the project: “She told me, ‘You better treat her right!’ ”
Gomez said she signed on. Emilia Perez That’s largely because Gascón, who plays the drug lord before and after her transition, gave such a compelling dual performance. “She really carried the whole movie, and we followed her lead when it came to anything sensitive,” Gomez says. “She challenged me. In some of our scenes, she wasn’t afraid to get in my face. And I loved that because I got to match that energy.”
Both Gascón and Saldaña offered their services if Gomez needed help with dialogue. The film is almost entirely in Spanish, and while they are native speakers, Gomez herself is not. “My Spanish isn’t too bad, but I’m not fluent. I guess I Okay.” She grew up speaking Spanish but lost her fluency by the time she was seven and that purple dinosaur came into her life: “I got my first job and everything was in English.”
The music section of Emilia Perez easier. Gomez dives into her often intense singing and dancing, which means tapping back into her pop persona. “I can sing really well in Spanish,” she says, having released several songs in Spanish, including her 2021 EP Revelation. She enjoyed recording songs for the film, which were written by French singer-songwriter Camille and Clément Ducol, but wants fans to know that she has no plans to release any new music of her own at the moment. “I don’t know if I’m ready, you know?” she says. “It’s a vulnerable space. Acting has always been my first love. Music was just a hobby that got out of control. It’s part of who I am now, so I don’t think I’m going anywhere. I’m just not ready.”
She is still holding tab on the pop music scene. Gomez got a kick out of Charli XCX Spoiled child—especially the bonus track, “Spring Breakers,” of course—and she goes to shows whenever she can. “I like female artists,” she says. “I go to all the girl concerts—Billie, Dua…” And of course, she can always pick up the phone and call Taylor Swift, a longtime friend“She’s really like a big sister to me,” she says. They talk about the industry from time to time, with Gomez seeking advice on music or how to navigate new friendships at their respective levels of fame. More often than not, though, they just gossip about the things all friends gossip about and compare notes about the latest season of Vanderpump Rules. “I am on Valley now,” Gomez said, referring to the latest—and deeply haunting—spinoff of the Bravo reality series. “I’ve watched every episode Vanderpump, so i don’t care if it sucks!”
Whenever she’s ready to record her own music again, Gomez also has a direct line to one of pop’s most prolific producers: Benny Blanco. The two collaborated on the 2015 hit “Same Old Love” and the sultry 2019 track “I Can’t Get Enough,” which featured Tainy and J Balvin. In the music video for the latter, Gomez dances on an oversized bed in silk pajamas; Blanco joins her in a giant teddy bear costume. At the time, the two were just friends, but things took a romantic turn in July 2023. The pair were pretty private at first, but they’ve since taken their relationship to full-on public adoration, sharing cheesy photos and captions on each other’s Instagrams. In his most recent public display of affection, Blanco shared a tender throwback photo of him and Gomez on the set of “I Can’t Get Enough”: “I was a teddy bear in your music video and now I get to be a teddy bear in real life….”
Though they’ve worked together for years, fans seemed surprised that the two were dating, in part because Gomez is laid-back while Blanco, who produced hits like Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” is talkative. Whatever the connection—his openness, enthusiasm, and boldness combined with her dry sense of humor—it clearly worked. “I’ve never been loved in this way,” Gomez told me. “He’s just a light. A perfect light in my life. He’s my best friend. I love telling him everything.” In May, Howard Stern told Blanco that he hopes the two of them will get married.“You and I both,” Blanco replied. Gomez smiled at the thought of Blanco being so blunt and public. “He can’t lie,” she said. “After the interview, I was laughing so hard. Like, ‘What else do you want to say?’ ”
