Selena Gomez broke down why she “fought” for “Who Says” ― her 2011 hit with her former band The Scene ― after she claimed Disney looked to give the song to another artist.
The “Lose You to Love Me” singer explained in an interview at the Twilio SIGNAL 2023 conference that she was with her mom at the time when she “cried” because she “loved the song so much.”
“I basically said to my label, ‘I feel like my fans are young and they need it,’” Gomez said. “That’s all I kept saying because I was 16 at the time and I was like, ‘I think my fans really need it, tell [them] my fans really need this song.’”
The uplifting song peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gomez said it was a “gift” that the other artist didn’t use the song.
“And so maybe it just didn’t work out with the other artist, but that was a gift to me that I did not know I needed,” she said. “I love that song and it has carried with me through my whole career and I fought for it. So to be honest, I, to this day, need to hear it.”
The full interview is available on the Twilio SIGNAL conference website until Sept. 22 with a free virtual ticket.
In an MTV News interview from 2011, Gomez explained that the song “completely inspired” her after she heard it.
“The original layout of my album was, I wasn’t going to release one for a while. But I heard ‘Who Says,’ and I thought it was amazing, and it completely inspired me,” she told the outlet.
She also explained why the “sweet” song was important to fans ― and herself.
“With bullying, with cyberbullying, with all the negativity that is in high school and dealing with things, you’re already trying to figure out who you are; it doesn’t help when people are constantly trying to tear you down,” Gomez told MTV News. “And I’m dealing with it, of course. I’m going through it as well.”
“Every time I sing this song, I’m like, ‘I feel better already!’ It’s such a sweet song, and it’s fun and empowering,” she added.
Gomez referred to the track as her “favorite… ever recorded” in an interview with Billboard the same year.
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