Selena Gomez began her career as an entertainer at the ripe age of 7, when she appeared in the children's television series Barney & Friends. It wasn't until her role as Alex Russo in the Disney series Wizards of Waverly Place that Selena became the household name she is now. Gomez's foray into the music industry has seen her selling 7 million albums and 22 million singles. While the former Disney princess and pop sensation is usually known for being a charitable sweetheart, 'Who Says' that Instagram’s most followed person doesn’t have a shady side? Certainly not me - read on to hear about fifteen times Selena Gomez was totally SHADY!
15 Selena Stole Bella Hadid’s Man, The Weeknd?!
The Weeknd and Selena may look like a cute couple, but looks can be deceiving. If you dig a little deeper, you might not think they’re so cute after all. The Weeknd had been dating Bella Hadid for two years before they sadly went their separate ways in November 2016. Flash forward to January 2017, and Starboy made things official with his new girl - Selena Gomez. How did that happen so quickly?! Well, if you ask Bella, she’ll tell you that Selena wooed The Weeknd and lured him away from her so that Selena could use him to get hit new music from the chart-topping superstar! It’s not the first time Selena’s been accused of using pop stars to further her fame, as many believe Selena used former flames and musicians Zedd, Charlie Puth and, most notably, Justin Bieber for a ‘come up’. Hmm!
14 Selena Ditched Demi Lovato for Taylor Swift?
Once upon a time, Selena was the best of friends with fellow Disney star Demi Lovato. They were always seen together, and even started a cute vlog together in 2008. By 2010 however, dynamics in the friendship had changed. During a video which went viral, a fan in London asked Demi how Selena was doing, to which Demi curtly replied with the now-iconic “Ask Taylor” response; Selena had apparently ditched her long-time friend Demi for fellow singer Taylor Swift. Demi went on to explain later in 2010 that “true friends don’t let their friends or family be mean to you. If you can’t trust somebody, you can’t be friends with them.” Sounds like Selena may have been a bit of a Mean Girl to Demi behind the scenes!
13 Selena’s Support For Taylor Swift Backfires
Ever the humanitarian, Selena was extremely irate on social media in July 2016 when a celebrity feud seemingly took precedence over important social issues. The feud in question? Between none other than Taylor Swift and Kanye West – again. The two were embroiled in a heated war of ‘he said she said’ after Kanye declared he “made that B*tch famous” in his song “Famous,” supposedly outraging Taylor. The gag is, Taylor was outed as a liar when Kim Kardashian (Kanye’s wife) exposed a phone call between Taylor and Kanye, where they were discussing said lyrics. Selena decided to weigh in on the frivolous beef by declaring on Twitter that “There are more important things to talk about... Why can't people use their voice for something that f***ing matters?” One Twitter user fired back by asking “Good question! Why [have] you or Taylor not said a thing about #BlackLivesMatter or police brutality?” In a swiftly deleted tweet, Selena tried to shut the fan down as she defended herself by sarcastically asking “So that means if I hashtag something I save lives?” and that she “could give two f**s about 'sides.' You don’t know what I do.” We love a heated Twitter war!
12 At Least Selena Doesn’t Charge $10,000 – Unlike Demi and Nick
Meet and greet experiences at major pop concerts are always a premium price, and of course Selena’s shows are no exception. During a fan account of one such experience in 2016, Selena threw major shade at former bestie Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas. The fan was explaining to Selena how they had spent a whopping $1,200 on Selena’s Revival tour, by attending several dates and purchasing lots of her tour merch. An unfazed Selena rebutted with the comment “at least I don’t charge $10,000!” – an obvious dig at Demi and Nick’s Future Now joint tour, where they controversially charged an outrageous $10,000 for meet and greet packages. Yikes!
11 Yes, Selena DOES F*****g Sing Live!
Despite being a multi-platinum recording artist, ‘Selena Gomez’ has never been synonymous with ‘powerful singing’. Selena’s limited singing range has been the subject of several debates as to whether she is actually a talented singer or not, with her thin vocals leaving many asking the simple question – can Selena Gomez actually sing? It was a question many in the audience were asking after Selala’s appearance at the 2015 Victoria Secret Fashion Show, with one person wondering on the Victoria’s Secret Instagram page if Selena sang live during her performance. Selena, who had a live tour to promote at the time, crisply shut down the ‘hater’ with a shady shoutout – “Yes I f*****g sing live!”
10 Selena Shades the Sound Technicians
Selena definitely takes her singing seriously, even if not many others do - this was apparent during an ill-fated appearance at the KIIS FM Jingle Ball in 2013. Selena was due to perform her number one, culturally appropriating hit “Come & Get It,” but was plagued by technical issues which prevented her from performing the song correctly. An obviously irritated Selena attempted to stall with self-deprecating comments (“Sorry, the sound isn't working! Are you guys having a good night? I promise, a lot cooler people are gonna come out tonight”). In a cruel twist of fate though, at the end of the song Selena is perfectly heard viciously yelling “what the f*ck?!” to the sound technicians. Shade? More like pure aggression. Looks like when Selena claimed that she sings live, she meant it. That wasn’t very ‘classy’ of you, Selena!
9 Kill ‘em With Kindness – Or Shade!
Fans can do the strangest things sometimes. During a promo trip in France, one Selenator managed to steal a pair of Selena’s sunglasses from her and held them hostage in exchange for concert tickets! Naturally, Selena was not impressed when the thief in question showed up to a meet and greet session to return the shades in an act of redemption after Selena denounced the girl as a fan on Twitter. “That’s very immature. You have to be kind,” Gomez is seen saying as she irritably stares at the girl. Selena then ended the encounter with an incredible side-eye, which ended up going viral due to its sheer shadiness.
8 Selena to Lorde: Feminism Isn’t Tearing Down Another Artist!
Singer Lorde made an accurate observation about Selena’s “Come & Get It” song in 2013; “I'm a feminist and the theme of [Selena’s] song is, ‘When you're ready come and get it from me.” “I'm sick of women being portrayed this way," Lorde added. Selena, who had seemingly missed Lorde’s point, refused to agree and decided that what Lorde said is not “feminism,” because Lorde is “not supporting other women.” Selena then elaborated in a separate interview that “it’s not feminism if you’re tearing down another artist; she’s young, she’s like…” Selena trailed off. “At 16 we all kinda felt like we knew everything,” the interviewer suggested, to which Selena (19 at the time) condescendingly nodded in agreement with. Selena has a strange sense of what feminism is, if this next entry is anything to go by…
7 Selena’s Classy, Not Like All You Other Girls!
In an interview with the New York Times in March 2017, Selena shared that she reads comments about herself on Instagram; "You can’t avoid it sometimes," she said. It comes as no surprise then, that she occasionally likes comments from fans praising her. One such comment Selena particularly enjoyed praised her by explaining that “bad girls ain’t wifey material [and] the only time you’ll see Selena in a bikini is on the cover of Vogue, if that ain’t class I don’t know what that is… Selena’s different, she doesn’t dress like your typical Instagram model. Selena’s classy.” It’s quite shady (and very problematic) for Selena to publically agree that she’s ‘classy’ unlike those ‘bad girls’ who wear their bikinis outside of Vogue magazine; ironically, Selena posed nude on the artwork for her 2015 album Revival which featured the sex anthem “Good For You.” Shady, hypocritical mess!
6 Class Is the Sexiest Thing – Sorry Miley!
2013 was quite a big year for Selena’s pop music career as she released Stars Dance, her first album as a ‘solo artist’ (previous releases were as Selena Gomez & The Scene). The album featured her then-biggest hit to date, “Come and Get It,” and also spurred on the Stars Dance world tour. Another former Disney star was also promoting that year – Miley Cyrus. Miley decided to promote her Bangerz album (and shed her Disney associations) by acting as controversially as possible, climaxing with her infamous ‘twerking’ at the MTV VMAs 2013. Behind the scenes, Selena clearly didn’t approve of Miley’s shock tactics though, when the conservative pop star had this to say to her fans at her Philadelphia Stars Dance show: "I get it all day, every day. I'm not sexy enough, or I'm not cool enough, or if I did this I would be accepted. Let me tell you one thing: The sexiest thing, I think - actually, I know, is class." It’s pretty obvious what, or rather who, Selena was aiming that at. Selena we get it girl, you’re ‘classy’ and those other girls aren’t!
5 Selena Serves Blankness When Asked About Justin Bieber
Selena’s failed relationship with fellow teen pop star Justin Bieber has had quite the impact on her career, as well as the music she records. Listeners heard a glimpse of that on Selena’s 2013 record Stars Dance, specifically the ballad “Love Will Remember”. That doesn’t mean reporters can ask Selena about the troubled singer though, as WGN Entertainment’s Dean Richards learnt the hard way! “Is there something about [Justin] that we don't get or we don't understand? What don't we get about him or what is it that he's not getting out there?” the reporter pestered. Selena’s response? A blank screen – she disconnected the interview!
4 Selena Made Justin Cry
Selena’s relationship with Justin Bieber has been extremely on and off. During one of their ‘off’ moments in March 2013, Selena appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman to promote her movie Spring Breakers. The host gave Selena some interesting information about Justin’s latest appearance on his show: “we got into a conversation, and he said something, and I said something, and he said something, and I said something, and I made him cry," Letterman explained. “Well then, that makes two of us!” the quick-witted Selena quipped back, with a huge smirk on her face. Exposing Justin as a cry-baby? Shady!
3 Selena Thinks Justin Should Stop Posting Pics of His Girlfriend
Since breaking things off, Selena and Justin have acted like a messy, middle aged divorced couple, especially on social media. One such instance happened in August 2016, when Justin Bieber refused to hide the fact that his fans invasion of privacy was starting to affect his life. Fans dragged Justin for sharing photos on Instagram of himself with romantic interest Sofia Richie, prompting this response from him: "I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate. This is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like." Guess who didn’t like this message, and decided to share her two cents? Selena of course! "If you can't handle the hate, then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol," she wrote. "It should be special between you two only. Don't be mad at your fans. They love you and supported you before anyone ever did." Bitter, shady, or both? The drama continued, however, when…
2 #SelenaEndedJustinParty
Justin tried to defend himself against Selena’s shade by firing back: “It’s funny to see people that used me for attention, and still try to, point the finger this way. Sad. All love. Hope you can all be kind to my friends and each other - and yes, I love my Beliebers.” Well, Selena decided to put her shademobile into top gear by unnecessarily ‘exposing’ Justin: “Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive - no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love,” Selena shadily revealed. As if that wasn’t enough, Selena put the cherry on top of her cake made of shade, by strategically sharing a ‘heart-warming’ photo collage on Instagram of herself with several fans; this way, everybody could see that Selena truly does appreciate her supporters, unlike some people *cough* Justin *cough*. Selena’s online behavior consequently inspired the ‘#SelenaEndedJustinParty’ hashtag to go viral. I’m sure Justin was reeling after Selena’s snooty shade attack!
1 Selena’s So Sick of That ‘Same Old Love’
We should have seen Selena’s shade attack coming. Earlier in 2016, specifically May, Selena was performing her Revival world tour in Fresno. Noticing a fan holding a sign, Selena suddenly stopped the show. “Marry Justin Please!” the sign read. Pointing, Selena summoned the fan in question to come closer to her. The excited fan raced forward, but Selena was not playing. In a defiant act to silence #Jelena worshippers once and for all, Selena snatched the sign from the fan and furiously crumpled it, before slamming it to the ground and storming away. "She didn't mention anything after. I got my paper back though. It wasn't meant to be mean," the fan told E! News. Of course it wasn’t!
