Something About Selena

Never sat through a full episode of any Disney show she was in. Spring Breakers landed somewhere between interesting and forgettable, and whatever I’ve heard of her music belongs to a genre I don’t actually listen to. None of that stops me from being consistently, inexplicably glad whenever Selena Gomez appears somewhere.

My working theory is that there’s something underneath the surface finish—an emotional weight the celebrity apparatus is constantly trying to smooth over. The Hollywood gloss, the brand partnerships, the optimized public persona. It breaks through sometimes. In interviews, in unguarded moments. A person with more going on inside than the product she’s selling at any given time.

She was doing an Adidas campaign around this period that’s exactly the glossy surface I’m describing—all good lighting and clean sneakers, professional and entirely controlled. I watched it more than once. Partly the sneakers, if I’m being honest. Selena Gomez in sneakers does something specific to me that I’ve given up trying to explain, and probably given up trying to justify.