Selena Gomez: From Revival to Regret (a career deep dive)

Selena Gomez's prime is often regarded as her 2015 revival era, a period hailed as the peak of Selena's career, marked by bold confidence, chart-topping hits like Good For You and Hands To Myself, and a sleek, mature image that redefined her in the fashion industry. From her striking red carpet looks to her iconic selfies, Revival wasn't just an album, it was what solidified Selena from B-list Disney star to A-list household name. So let's take a closer look at what made that era so unforgettable to the general public, her fans, and whether Selena herself might be missing her old self, and if she's been trying to emulate it for a while. Before the Revival era, Selena Gomez's career was often overshadowed by her Disney roots and seen by many as a cute face rather than a serious artist. As the star of Wizards of Waverly Place, she was beloved by a younger audience, but when it came to her music, critics and even some fans viewed her as trailing behind pop peers like Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, or even newer rising stars now. Her earlier albums with Selena Gomez in the scene produced catchy tracks, but they lacked the vocal strength or creative depth that critics looked for in serious pop acts. At the time, her image was still very much tied to teen stardom, and many questioned whether she had the range or artistry to evolve beyond it. It wasn't until Revival that Selena truly stepped into her own, shedding the child star label and proving she had a vision. Life didn't turn out for Selena as you would have thought seeing her during her Revival, and it was a hard era for Selena to move on from, knowing now that she might never be at her prime music-wise or looks-wise again. This is something that even she has expressed before, and in this video we are going to talk about Revival and Selena's personal and professional eras that came afterwards. Is there regret? Has she gracefully moved on? Is Revival era basically Selena peaking in high school? Or is life better for her now? Stay tuned for the answers and before we get started, make sure to give this video a like and subscribe for more and tell us your opinion down in the comment section below. Pre-Revival Era The Revival era seemed to be so polished and mature because before it, Selena's career was cute and well-executed, but nothing stood out about her. The Disney Channel era was from 2007 to 2010 with Wizards of Waverly Place. It's an iconic Disney show, it put Selena on the map as she was only 15 or 16 years old with her own Disney show. This era to me is always bittersweet, it's the start of everything, and the nostalgia alone is hard to miss. It's when Demi and Selena were still friends, Justin Bieber was in the picture, and him and Selena didn't out-toxic the other, Selena was seen as one of the main Disney girls and you could tell she enjoyed every moment of it, almost romanticizing it before TikTok told us to romanticize our lives. Most of Selena's peers, like Miley or Demi, didn't have great things to say about Disney or their castmates until many years later and after a decade of therapy. Selena right off the bat had her Wizards castmates as family, even hanging out with multiple co-stars for years to come. I definitely believe Selena looked at her Disney era as one of her best eras because of the youthfulness and the idea that you're on your way to hitting it big before you hit it big. Traveling to places you never thought you'd see, hanging out with teen heartthrobs, hitting red carpets, all while doing it with your family. It was cute, but in Hollywood, cute doesn't make you stand out. Selena was often compared to Miley and Demi, who stood out more than her because of their very niche personalities, vocal abilities, and performances. Selena would occasionally release singles before her 2009 album, like Tell Me Something I Don't Know, which was released in 2008 and it was criticized as being vocally weak and heavily produced. Selena Gomez and The Scene was an era from 2009 to 2011 where they were regarded as a manufacturer pop rock band. Their three albums together was Kiss and Tell, A Year Without Rain, and When the Sun Goes Down. Three albums in three years. Selena wasn't good enough as a standalone, so they figured let's partner her up with a band, but the band was only for branding. Selena was always the focus, so to the rest of us watching the other Disney peers and then watching Selena, it felt like, why is she always traveling with her orchestra? The criticism was that their lyrics lack depth or identity. Nothing about those three albums were personal, especially the first two, so they tried to mark it when the sun goes down as Selena's ode to falling in love with Justin and this is the start of Selena's career consistently needing Justin or meshing with the topic of Jelena. Do Not Think Anytime After 2011 was Selena's personal life and professional life not curated for Jelena in the public eye. Meshing Justin so much with Selena's career and even involving them together in a PR relationship at the start of their careers eventually stunted Selena's ability to grow music-wise and personality-wise. She was trying to stand out without needing to rely so much on their relationship and the fact that she couldn't Dang, he called me this morning about this song with Justin and I was like, I'm like, when am I gonna just be good enough by myself? When am I gonna be good just by myself, not needing anybody to be associated with? Like, it's so- You already are. If you guys want a whole breakdown of their relationship from start to finish, let us know because we would probably be the only channel that could give you a correct and accurate timeline since we didn't clock into this topic a few years ago like majority of social media. Selena takes chance at being a standalone with her Stars Dance era from 2013. This was a pivotal point for Selena for so many reasons. A, she was no longer on Disney. B, she was no longer hiding behind her band. It was her breakout solo album. And C, she was no longer in a relationship with Justin. There was no more PDA-filled beach photos to go along with the album like in 2011. I remember so much insecurity with Selena for this 2013 era. She was so worried about the competition, the Billboard charts, performing live, and her vocal abilities. Seeing as most of her albums and singles were not hitting the top 20 on Billboard and her peers have had their hits before, it did feel like it was a constant reassuring insecurity for her. She was only four years into her music career when she started promoting Stars Dance as her last ever album and that after this, she was sticking to acting. The Stars Dance era used to have me laughing because Selena wanted the best of both worlds. She wanted to have a messy and sultry post-Disney era like Miley while having the personality of someone stuck with Disney dialogue. So the era seemed try-hard. You have her trying to twerk to Rihanna on stage and being this bad B while simultaneously acting like some incapable, shy good girl. Those are two very distinct personalities and the fact that she was meshing them together left and right made it seem as if she wanted to be seen as sexy but not too sexy in case it triggers her good girl audience. While Come and Get It charted, it wasn't critically praised. It was Selena's way of cosplaying as a Bollywood star and it kind of made no sense as to why she wore the outfits she did or the jewelry that she did besides needing to differentiate herself for Miley and Demi. Come and Get It starts off with a sampled Indian song and it's followed by a music video that incorporates that culture as well followed by performances that are giving child's play Disney goes to Bollywood. Selena had no idea what she was doing and even admitting to know nothing about the culture that she's cosplaying all for a hit and the hit didn't come. The only thing that did come was a photo of Selena in a sari captioning it sorry not sorry for the criticism that she was getting. The idea of cosplaying aged like milk because on the revival tour Selena scrapped all parts of the song and choreo that was anything Bollywood influenced including taking off the original sampled song and adding some random remix on tour instead. She was highly criticized for this era because it didn't show a lot of musical growth compared to her other peers such as Ariana, Taylor, Miley or Demi. The Stars Dance era made people question if she had the vocal strength or artistic vision to last solo. The rest of the Stars Dance album was uneven and forgettable beyond a few clubby tracks. She had a couple of movies here and there attempting to break the Disney typecast. Spring Breakers from 2012 was supposed to show a very wild side of Selena and like most things with Selena it was mild at best. Her character wasn't the wildest of the cast and she promoted the movie in the same girl next door personality I didn't even know what I was doing at all. It was critically acclaimed but you could tell they were trying to go for a blockbuster with the amount of press and movie premieres it had alone. Get Away from 2013 was a flop both critically and commercially. Behaving badly and rudderless were mostly forgettable. The main criticism with Selena's acting detour was that she couldn't fully shake off her Disney image. Most people were spectacle if Selena could act beyond teen roles and while Spring Breakers gave her some indie credit most of her film's efforts were considered shallow or mid-cast. There was a pivotal moment for Selena before entering her revival era. One, she fired her parents in 2014 because she wanted management with more experience and scandalous media readers knew it was also for secret drug issues multiple rehab trips and a toxic relationship with Justin. Again, this stuff could be in the Jelena timeline video if you guys want one. And two, Selena needed to give Hollywood Records one last album due to her contract with them rather than have a whole dedicated era to that album she released a greatest hits album titled For You where we got the heart wants what it wants and it was the heart wants what it wants that was the first time Selena was applauded for her vulnerability. She finally released a song that made some sense to her messy personal life and this is when she starts reinventing herself. The Revival Era With the revival era Selena and her team had one goal in mind get Selena to the top without so much Jelena in the mix. During those years we mentioned earlier especially 2013 and 2014 Selena was very very messy with her shade and association to Justin it was like an ambush of Jelena even when she released the heart wants what it wants it was in the middle of a Jelena hangout sandwich and she used Justin's silhouette and symbolism in the AMA performance. There were Jelena hangouts from left and right and it's why people claim they dated for a whole decade when in reality they just met up many times in the public eye while both claiming to be single. So with the Revival Era we barely got a Jelena hangout even though they still met up from time to time privately. There was one hangout a month after Selena announced her album which isn't surprising if you notice the pattern of Selena has a project and then we get a suspicious Jelena public sighting. Selena was still seeing Justin and shading him but it wasn't as messy as the years before because she was trying to be seen as more mature and have a less obvious track record of her social media meltdowns when it came to him. Because there was less messiness Selena's fans regard this as a time when Selena was at her most confident and the girl who ate men for breakfast. She was a bit more confident hired a stylist upped her looks to a gorgeous degree but like I always said Selena's personal life in 2015 and 2016 was hell and back and she confirmed it when a video of her walking with paparazzi in 2015 went viral with the caption she would never date Benny Blanco and she replied kind of makes me laugh because I was so depressed back then lol So the revival era was all smoke and mirrors Selena's life was crumbling behind the scenes and she was more insecure than ever she dealt with huge life-changing events such as having lupus a secret drug addiction that was so lethal I consider it to be worse than Justin's and constant fallouts with friends and family Selena's revival era is considered her prime looks wise because it was the first time her appearance aligned with a confident self-directed identity not one crafted by Disney our perceptions or her own limitations 1. Bold confidence and control of her image Revival was about the rebirth of Selena not just lyrically but emotionally and aesthetically in interviews Selena emphasized wanting to feel sexy and empowered on her terms she started to embrace vulnerability more and more I believe she got a bit addicted to being honest and vulnerable on social media and in the press because it made her fall into a rabbit hole of constantly needing to be the victim who needs help she got addicted to self-victimization and even said found the strength in it it's dangerous to stay in a victim mentality 2. Style evolution Selena worked with top stylists to define a chic sultry grown-up look think slip dresses smoky eyes fabulous hair and bold minimalism her style blended softness with confidence and she was less girly and more refined 3. Editorial and fashion industry validation Selena was featured in high fashion magazines such as Vogue W Magazine and V Magazine now these magazine covers weren't just validation that she was making it but it's also a confidence boost for those in the fashion industry that she was low-key beefing with such as the Jenners slash Kardashians slash Hadids and most notably Hailey who thanks to Justin's unwarranted honesty told us that they thought about the possibility of Hailey even getting a Vogue cover while Selena had to up her sleeve Selena was fully upping her style as Miu Miu Louis Vuitton and Givenchy began aligning with her brand Fashion credibility does break or make a career because if you think about it Kim Kardashian's association with Kanye West in the fashion world is what took the Kardashians from regular trashy reality stars to billion dollar empires Where Selena went right and her Disney peers went left was embedding herself to the fashion world because it kept her at a glamorous relevancy that her fans used against her making her feel like she needed to uphold this perfection and against other peers who sold more than Selena but because they weren't at the Met Gala they were suddenly less than her Selena wasn't pulling Michael Jackson numbers or breaking out in Beyonce performances yet her fans hyped up the revival era as if she were all because it was filtered with a solid bombshell aesthetic which leads us to 4. Music videos and performances matching the aesthetic Selena's music videos, performances, and outfits sold us the subconscious idea that every woman wants to be Selena and every guy wants to date Selena It was true to an extent and again the whole era was heavily focused on branding Selena's life behind closed doors eventually got revealed to be the opposite of glamour and confidence from sources talking to the media or even from Selena's 2022 documentary My Mind and Me but at the time she was everything My whole life since I was a kid I've been working and the only thing that I want is a cute I'm in a better place but I don't know I guess sometimes I can't explain it for sure The Good For You music video was a bold step for Selena It featured A$AP Rocky and was a sultry slow-burning vibe dim lights, wet hair, and lounging in tees It was intimate and sexy without trying too hard making it seem like it takes her no effort Hands to Myself was aesthetically sleek and seductive with a nice budget thanks to the Beats ad placement black and white lingerie, clean silhouettes, and a wild storyline of her breaking into someone else's house Her live performances most notably the Victoria's Secret fashion show 2015 were a perfect match to her aesthetic It also grouped her with Taylor and Ariana who did the same show and they were on the more successful side and it made it seem as if she was doing something Miley and Demi couldn't do The reason why Miley and Demi are always brought up in conversation when it comes to Selena is because of how much social media compared the three and how much fans broke out in fights over who sold more who had more talent and who achieved more Miley was always number one when it came to the three of them but someone who's never gotten enough credit and was always selling more was Demi In the past, all three have spoken up about comparisons and how they got sucked into being up-to-date and wanting to succeed and fit society's expectations Speaking of comparisons to Miley and Demi 5. Post-Disney Glow-Up Narrative They used to say the only people who left Disney and stayed normal were Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez You guys can only imagine how much my eye twitched whenever Selena was regarded as the most graceful Disney exec while she hid a wild and messy side that was slightly showing in public but was never on full display The media and fans love a transformation arc that is from cute girl to hot girl or girl to woman Not from pop princess to dead pets era Selena gracefully became a sultry icon and wasn't overdoing it like Miley's bangers era which was 10 times more iconic but was also 10 times more criticized She also wasn't oversharing every taboo issue like Demi who opened up about mental health and drug issues at a time that was too sensitive for the audience She balanced maturity and elegance even if some of it was a lie Demi, the poster child for drugs had to have multiple interventions with Selena in 2014 because Selena's drug issues got out of hand and she wouldn't get help This was a low-key reveal to the media but was easily squashed by celeb teams So no, it's not about honesty in Hollywood It's all about branding and it's why the general public gushes over this era without fully noticing all the cracks The only people noticing the cracks seem to be Scandalous Media and Selena herself which is why I expressed sympathy many times in the past on the Scandalous Media blog when it came to Selena seeming like she needed to constantly uphold this pressure to be the perfect girl pressure that mainly came from her fans since they laughed and mocked everyone else who showed real vulnerability at a time where Selena was hiding behind Versace bags and coach deals There's a reason why Selena crashed and burned afterwards Post-revival era After the revival era Selena fell into a huge depression spiral mainly because she and Justin broke up again and he went off and married Hailey Justin marrying Hailey symbolizes Selena that all things Jelena and what came with it were most likely gone Not only did she have to mourn the fact that Justin wasn't playing the meetup games with her anymore but she had to mourn all the nostalgia of the past and the what-ifs of the future The question is this Does Selena miss being in her prime? Some might claim that she hit a new peak in her career and doesn't miss being in her prime while others say that she is desperately clinging on to what she can from her previous era She started Rare Beauty which skyrocketed her net worth and gave her fans something new to traumatize Selena with as they kept comparing her updated net worth with Justin's which hasn't been updated in almost a decade She got engaged to Benny Blanco She took on more critically acclaimed movie roles She bought a 35 million dollar mansion with Benny and is currently planning her wedding If I didn't know any better I think she was in what she thinks is her prime but that's not the case Some of Selena's behavior points to the fact that she was in fact bitter at how life turned out for her and these are some of the examples people use On a random day in January 2023 Selena posted a photo of herself from 10 years ago when she was on the beach and captioned it Today I realized I will never look like this again She then posted a photo of her current self and said I'm not perfect but I'm proud to be who I am Sometimes I forget it's okay to be me From feeling like she needed social media validation and praise It was only a few weeks later when she commented on a TikTok video that speculated that Hailey was shading Selena because she gained weight It was from that initial post of Selena admitting that she knows she doesn't look her smallest that you could tell she was going to project on Hailey aka the girl who stole her life Selena looked at Hailey and probably still looks at Hailey as This is the girl who took my spot My man His friends His manager His movie premiere That was all me at a point Selena later admitted in March 2025 that she is bitter over comments about her weight gain and funny enough it was exactly two years later in March 2025 when another viral Hailey hate train started where people genuinely questioned if Selena and her team were behind it especially with TikTok creators saying that people are getting paid to hate on Hailey It doesn't help that social media keeps reminding Selena that her prime version would not be looking or acting like current Selena even down to the fact that prime Selena wouldn't be marrying the person current Selena is marrying Most of this is coming from her fans who held her on some high pedestal that the rest of the girls couldn't reach and it is partially Selena's fault because of how she egged her fans to act like this for years Selena said My weight is a big one too Everybody just has something to say and it's really making me sad Not even sad but I think it's made me a tad bitter and if you see Selena now she looks thinner than ever and everyone knows Hollywood is all over ozempic these days and as someone who's admitted in the past that she doesn't really enjoy working out and loves hearty junk food with Benny we can't help but think that Selena isn't so okay with being herself after all She also released a song titled Younger and Hotter where the lyrics are All the girls at this party are younger and hotter than me and I hate what I wore but I hate myself more Honestly it's a relatable lyric but I don't see anyone else from Selena's peers who've had the same Hollywood upbringing as she's had and dealt with the same insecurities as she's had put on blast how old and ugly they think they are And if you think about it Selena's only in her early 30s Why is she already digging her own grave? Taylor was 33 years old embarking on the biggest tour on earth and she had the same insecurities about growing old in Hollywood yet her misery isn't projected in every interview and TikTok comment section To make matters worse Selena posted a selfie wearing a tank top with the lyrics All the girls at this party are younger and hotter than me Everyone at the time called her out for trying to bait hate on some innocent random Hollywood star whether it's Hailey again or Sabrina Carpenter Olivia Rodrigo Tate McRae and god knows who else Someone said it best and said Sometimes what y'all think is being quirky and vulnerable is just being pathetic Don't feed into that misogynistic nonsense yourself Seriously besides the cute color and glitter used everything is wrong with that shirt Another said Really don't like this self-pity and negative self-talk Sets a terrible example for younger women who look up to her What would possess someone to wear this? Not only is Selena wearing her heart on her sleeve or more like her chest but the constant botched plastic surgery is ruining her natural features that we all once loved Someone pointed out how apparent it is that she's putting in a lot of effort to appear younger something that's becoming increasingly common today Too many young people are turning to Botox and fillers which disrupts the natural process of aging These procedures are being normalized far too early in your late 20s or early 30s and they really aren't necessary Selena will look like her old self for five minutes before going and fixing something else that will have her face look like it's melting off Whether it's the cheek filler pointy chin eye surgery or unnatural sculpted jaw It's not a good look and it does the opposite of what she's trying to achieve Selena has changed her hair and posed in ways that resemble herself from a decade ago She has also gotten into a habit of posting throwback photos and giving them vague captions like dazed 20 or a globe caption making you think it's how she looks like now She is also the only Disney star from her circle of peers to willingly come back to her show's reboot It feels like she is so sentimental about the past and needs to hold on to some parts of it In one of the Instagram throwbacks she posted a little speech she gave the casting crew on her last day shooting Wizards and captioned it Was I just someone else? She also put that speech in her latest album with Benny in the track I Said I Loved You First I just really wanted to say thank you um for every single thing that everybody does in this room for me Speaking of Benny Selena had to mourn the idea that she wasn't going to end up with someone everyone else wanted For a long time Selena having Justin wrapped around her finger was a confidence booster The guy that everyone wants THE teen heartthrob wants me No matter how many times I push him away or make him hate me he still comes back to me That was power and control and to be honest once you feel that power and control it's when the confidence comes in In certain relationships I've heard and I've experienced there's this thing, right? Actually I think I think men and women do it especially teenagers and young people in love is there's the satisfaction out of hurting someone because you know that they care purposefully putting someone down because you want to keep them you know at a level to keep that person down so they never realize like oh I'm strong enough to actually get out of the situation or feel threatened and I think that we both do that there's like you know especially I don't know especially when you're young it's like it's that whole thing where it's like oh I'm glad that you know you're crying over me and that clearly you still love me and all this stuff He said something and I said something and he said something and I said something and I made him cry Well then that makes two of us And that was truly what was behind most of Selena's most confident eras Just like she once told this fan So Justin is too good to be my boyfriend? Did you take a look in the mirror lately? If he's too good for me to be his girlfriend then he's too good for you to even be the shoe that he walks on Good thing she don't get paid for thinking Ladies and gentlemen Selena Marie Gomez in her truest most authentic self Everyone in the comments ended up flaming the girl who's like 12 while gassing Selena up telling her that she has no chill And a whole decade later she's still doing the same thing with no chill Anyway as you can see the confidence got to Selena's head so much so that Justin released What Do You Mean? a song about Selena never giving him a clear sign yet also getting mad at him for not understanding the unclear signs Like the confusion You know that push and pull? Bro do I know it? In some ways you just want to say just let's just talk Yeah like what are you talking about? Just work it out You ever been in the bedroom and the same things happen? She's like pushing you away and then she's like wants to kiss you and then she starts crying and pushes you away When Benny came along I don't think Selena could have predicted the reaction she was going to get from everyone I also was in shock when it seemed like Cell Benny gathered all the fandoms together for five peaceful minutes while they all complained about how ugly and weird he is Criticism that I still think to this day is a bit harsh Selena was fighting with everyone for hours on Instagram proclaiming that she doesn't care what they think he's the best thing to have ever happened to her If you want a little refresher on what she said while she was fighting her own fans go check out the video we have on that The idea that pop sultry sensation Selena Gomez is gonna marry weird and smelly looking Benny Blanco was probably the biggest karma for her fans who only like her when she is at her thinnest, prettiest and with some actor on her arm Selena's fans consist of a bunch of self-hating individuals who somehow think Selena's success is their success and it's why they can't like her when she's enjoying herself a little too much or is getting with a man who looks like Benny because in their minds her achievements are somehow their achievements No other fan base is like this and I really need you to ask yourself what has Selena subconsciously said and done that allowed her to attract the weirdest fan base on earth? Selena herself is shallow enough to feel the pressure of getting with Benny which is why she paid People magazine to put him on the cover for sexiest man alive and we all held in a snort Selena is so obsessed with the past that when she released her album with Benny she still talked about the 2018 Jelena breakup and how there were moments she cried herself to sleep and sometimes still cries about it She recently made a TikTok video and danced to the song When You're Done With Your Ex and I hate to break it to her but I don't think she'll ever be done with him It's apparent that she still seeds whenever Hailey Bieber does anything remotely successful and it even comes down to the RODE vs RARE photoshoot campaigns RARE Beauty started copying the idea of putting their products in a model's underwear an idea that Hailey got a lot of hate for when she first did it years ago and I don't like to get into that whole RARE vs RODE because it's honestly so stupid but RODE has this it girl aesthetic that RARE Beauty doesn't have so when they copy RODE such as orange girl summer or lipstick held by a string bikini or here's RARE Beauty lipstick next to this coffee that is so clearly copied from RODE it looks like imposter syndrome because RARE Beauty's branding isn't effortlessly chic it's more like hey don't cry yourself to sleep you're RARE Hailey has built RODE's branding to mirror her own image it's essentially an extension of the Hailey Bieber aesthetic it's clear, minimal, effortlessly cool and the ultimate trendy it girl vibe it sells more than just skincare it sells a lifestyle people want to step into on the other hand, RARE Beauty while the products are genuinely great doesn't carry that same aspirational branding people are drawn to RODE because it feels like an escape a soft, dreamy version of being effortlessly stylish and put together in contrast, RARE Beauty taps into something more vulnerable and real often centered on not feeling good enough or struggling with self-worth it's why the RODE branding works well because people want an escape they don't always want the tiring reality of working on yourself and not crying yourself to sleep because you're RARE it's nice but I'd rather be in fantasy land wearing my face mask and eating sushi anyway that's why I think it doesn't work for Selena when she's too wide-eyed copying stuff Hailey does because both girls give off a different aesthetic and I do believe Selena thinks well, there used to be a time when I was everything girls wanted to be so do I think Selena is so stuck in the past to the point where she can't see the greatness of her now? no I just think she is someone who is very sensitive to past versions of herself and she gets sucked into that nostalgic loop where you feel like times were better back then but they only feel better because you're not in them now and with Selena you really never know I could be saying all of this and then bam she likes another shady Bieber post on TikTok and is creating another hate train and suddenly we're starting the loop all over again so hold your breath with this one I hope you guys enjoyed this video and let me know down in the comments below what you think about past, present, and future Selena are there any examples we missed in this video? and if there were, tell us what they are do you think Selena has an obsession with reliving her past self or is she just someone who shares things too much without thinking much about them? let me know down in the comments below follow us on our social medias watch out for the podcast that will be coming out with new episodes thanks and I'll see you next time