Selena Gomez Not Doing Sexual Music Videos Anymore: They’re ‘Not Necessary’

Selena Gomez
2023 MTV Video Music Awards, Arrivals, Newark, New Jersey, USA - 12 Sep 2023

Ahead of the worldwide release of Rare, Selena Gomez invited all her fans for a sneak peek of her new album. She also made a big promise about the content of her future music videos. During the iHeartRadio Album Release Party, held on Jan. 9, Selena held an exclusive Q&A with KIIS FM’s JoJo Wright. During the show, her racy music video for 2016’s “Hands To Myself” played and Selena, 27, was mortified, as her six-year-old half-sister Gracie was in the audience. That caused Selena to make a vow not to make any more overtly sexual music videos from now on, saying they’re “not necessary.”

“I didn’t know you were going to play the video. My sister is here,” Selena said after the “Hands To Myself” video was played. “I told my sister [Gracie] I will not be doing videos like that anymore. It’s not really necessary, in my opinion.” Selena spends most of the music video in a black bra and high-waisted matching panties, writhing around on the bed of a hot movie star she seems to be stalking. She has steamy make out sessions with the shirtless hunk (even though she’s fantasizing it) while in her undies, and appears to be naked in his bathtub in another scene. But her days of super provocative music videos like that are now a thing of the past.

“I sound like such a nerd, but I cannot wait for [Rare] to come out,” Selena said during a recent interview with iHeartRadio. “It has taken a few years, and things that started in the beginning are solid and still a part of my record, and then some just came naturally and just … it was so easy. I mean, I shouldn’t say that. I was actually kind of a nightmare, but it was very easy to me when I sat down with the records and said, ‘This is exactly how it’s supposed to sound.’ So, the other ones are different and fun.”

“It actually surprised me, some of the stuff that I’d been able to be a part of. So, it’s about vulnerability, it’s about strength, having fun, not letting yourself stay in a dark place, ’cause I tend to do that a lot. If something happens, I tend to kinda sit in it. And I’ve gotten better over time [at] understanding that it’s okay to feel it, but actually staying in it and pulling yourself back up again is one of the most rewarding processes,” she added.

In the live broadcast of iHeart Radio listening party for “Rare” Selena said that she promised her sister that she’ll NEVER do another music video like “Hands To Myself” #selenagomez #RareOutNow pic.twitter.com/GerEEneGNy

— Selena Gomez Charts (@SGChartUpdate) January 10, 2020

Rare is Selena’s first album since 2015’s Revival and the first new music since “Back To You,” the song she wrote for Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why. Rare contains 13 tracks in total, including the first two singles, “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now.” Both songs discussed Selena’s last (and seemingly, final) relationship with Justin Bieber. Though the candidness of these songs were a bit startling, Justin was expecting Selena to bring him up in her new music. “He pretty much knew it was coming because as an artist that’s what she’s done before,” a source told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, mentioning all of Selena’s other songs about Justin. “And he respects her choice to do that. But the past is not something he wants to dwell on.”

Shortly after releasing her two singles, Selena said that she wanted Justin to listen to her new music. “Yeah, I do,” she said on the Zach Sang Show. “And here’s the whole point: being able to say something on your own, and being able to say something that actually is beautiful. For me, my intentions are never evil. They just aren’t. I don’t even know how to do that. My intentions can be a bit snappy but I always want to come from a place that’s genuine, and when I feel like some things haven’t been said, then, I get to turn things into art.”