advertisement
Music News

Selena Gomez Reveals Taylor Swift Wrote These Songs About Her (But One of Them Is Unreleased)

"We've never seen each other any differently," she added of their 17-year friendship.

Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards held at Prudential Center on Sept. 12, 2023, in Newark, N.J.

Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards held at Prudential Center on Sept. 12, 2023, in Newark, N.J.

Christopher Polk/Variety

Selena Gomez has been Taylor Swift‘s best friend for many years, but according to the Only Murders in the Building actress, she’s also been the pop superstar’s muse.

While appearing alongside husband Benny Blanco on the Friends Keep Secrets podcast, Gomez confirmed fan suspicions that a certain Evermore track is about her while also revealing that Swift has another one inspired by their friendship in the vault. “Well, ‘Dorothea’ is about me,” the Rare Beauty founder said.


“There’s this song Taylor wrote about us, and it was called ‘Family,'” she continued. “It was basically saying, ‘You have these amazing dreams, you want to be in movies — like, in every crowd I still see you.’ And then her part was, ‘You believe in my stupid dreams, like playing stadiums.’ Now when I listen to that song, both of those things have happened for us. And that’s really sweet, because back then, she was just, like, ‘I wrote this song about us. It was just our story, kind of.’ And it was the sweetest thing.”

advertisement

On “Dorothea” — which dropped in 2020 along with the rest of Swift’s Folklore follow-up, peaking at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Swift sings about an old friend who found fame “selling dreams, selling makeup and magazines,” and for whom “a tiny screen’s the only place I see you now.” Noticing parallels between the lyrics and Gomez’s life, from launching her Rare Beauty empire to starring in films such as Emilia Perez, Swifties have long speculated that Gomez was on the 14-time Grammy winner’s mind while she was writing the tune.

But according to Gomez, she is able to connect to all of her best friend’s songs on a different level after becoming friends with Swift when they were both teens. “I feel like a lot of moments — huge moments — that were self-defining, from relationships to family to love to hate, all of it in between, we were figuring it out,” she said on the podcast. “I was 15 and she was 18, and we didn’t really know what was going on, and so we’ve never seen each other any differently. So when I listen to it … I’m so impressed how it’s eloquently put.”

advertisement

Gomez also opened up about the impressive painting Swift whipped up for her 30th birthday, featuring their respective star signs illuminating a lake scene, which Blanco noted he initially thought had been rendered by a professional artist. As for how they look back on where they started versus where they are now, the Wizards of Waverly Place alum said of Swift, “It’s more so, like, ‘Wow, we survived it — as best we could.'”

Watch Gomez and Blanco’s full episode of Friends Keep Secrets below.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

advertisement
Music News Digest: CRTC Aims To Fill a Gap for Indigenous Radio in Toronto and Ottawa
Photo by Will Francis on Unsplash
FYI

Music News Digest: CRTC Aims To Fill a Gap for Indigenous Radio in Toronto and Ottawa

Also this week: Sled Island reveals initial lineup curated by clipping., Truro hosts Nova Scotia Music Week and more.

The CRTC recently launched a call for applications for FM radio stations to serve Indigenous communities in Toronto and Ottawa. Broadcast Dialogue reports "the call follows the demise of First Peoples Radio’s ELMNT FM stations, which went off the air on Sept. 1 last year. Launched in the fall of 2018, the stations had a goal to 'fill the gap' for urban Indigenous listeners under-represented in the radio landscape. They carried an 'Indigenous-variety' format, featuring both English and Indigenous-language spoken-word and musical programming, with 25% of the playlist dedicated to Indigenous talent.

In its call, the commission says in its view, "there is a need and a demand for radio stations to serve the needs and interests of those communities."

keep readingShow less
advertisement