Though Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber haven’t been an item since 2018, fans thought that Mr.Hailey Baldwin referenced his notorious on-again, off-again relationship with Selena, 28, on his new album, Justice. Particularly, fans thought Justin, 27, was singing about Sel on the song, “Ghost.” The song features lyrics like, “I miss your touch some nights when I’m hollow” and “If I can’t be close to you, I’ll settle for the ghost of you.”
Twitter was abuzz with fans speculating that “Ghost” might be about Selena, who Justin dated on and off for more than seven years. However, many fans also pointed out that the song is simply generically about losing someone, and probably isn’t about Selena specifically. While playing the new album for fans over Zoom, Justin explained, “[“Ghost”] is about losing somebody you love, and I know a lot of people have. I know this has been a really challenging year where we’ve lost loved ones and relationships, too.” He referred to the 2020 quarantine amidst coronavirus and added, “We’re not relating and connecting in the same way. It has allowed us to only really have these memories.”
As one fan pointed out, “I bet Justin’s song “Ghost” is NOT about Selena. It’s probably about his family members who have passed away, or it’s just for grief of COVID victims. I hate when people still try to tangle them.” However, on the other end of the spectrum, someone tweeted, “I’m not a Jelena shipper and I’m not even one to throw Selena into everything involving Justin because at the end of the day they’re two separate people living two separate lives….but ghost screams Selena…like SCREAMS her.”
This fan speculation comes roughly two months after listeners thought Selena referenced Justin on “De Una Vez,” the lead single from her Spanish-language EP, Revelación. Nowhere on the release does Selena name Justin, but fans thought the “Once and for all / I’m stronger alone” line on “De Una Vez” was about him. If so, it would make it a third post-Bieber breakup song, following “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now.”
Though fans have interpreted this part of Justin’s Justice to be about Selena, it’s safe to say that both have moved on. In September 2020, nearly a year after she released her chart-topping, Bieber-inspired “Lose You To Love Me,” Selena spoke with Rolling Stone and said she wanted listeners “to take away that this was a journey and that it was completely closed. I don’t want people to see me as just sad and hurt. I didn’t want that anymore. I wanted people to know that I experienced something real, and that part of me is over.”
Selena and Justin’s on-again, off-again relationship lasted roughly eight years and it came to (seemingly) a definitive end when they split in early 2018. By July 2018, Justin and Hailey were engaged, and two months after that, they got married in a New York City courthouse. The couple had an official ceremony a year later.
While Justin is enjoying life as a married man, Selena has been living her best single life. She hasn’t publicly dated anyone since the breakup with Justin, and she seems happy with that. There was speculation in early 2021 that she was romantically involved with her Only Murders in the Building co-star Aaron Dominguez. However, Selena put these rumors (and the online hate he was getting from her Stans) to rest during her interview with the Los Angeles Times. “We had just started working together. I honestly thought, ‘No wonder guys don’t want to date me!’ I think people only care because I’m young, and the older I get the less they’ll care. For now, it’s a part of the job that I don’t really like. I’m actually grateful that I’m not involved with anyone right now.”