In early February 2017, a week before Selena Gomez and Norwegian DJ Kygo released their newest single “It Ain’t Me”, Gomez had teased a clip of the song on Instagram. Fans immediately began to speculate if the song was about Gomez’s very famous ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.
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Though the song was written before Gomez arrived at the studio, it struck a chord and brought her back to an old relationship.
“When she heard it, she knew,” songwriter Ali Tamposi told Elle. Tamposi, who has penned hits for Kelly Clarkson and Camila Cabello, was joined by co-writers Brian Lee and Andrew Watt. (Gomez also received a songwriting credit on “It Ain’t Me”.)
Tamposi, Lee, and Watt had previously worked together on Justin Bieber’s “Let Me Love You”. The trio had been on a roll, writing consistently for over a year and a half, when Kygo invited them to a session. But it didn’t come easy. Kygo wasn’t impressed with the first song they wrote, so they started crafting another tune after he left the studio.
“It Ain’t Me” then came together quickly. When the DJ returned, he immediately got to work on the production.
“I Had a Dream“
“It Ain’t Me” opens with a dream of a night out at The Bowery Hotel in New York City. Though Gomez feels good, things quickly sour. After the breakup, she asks her ex, “Who’s going to look after you now?”
There are many references to drinking, and the chorus mentions “the dark side of the morning”. Alcohol seems to be the culprit in ruining their romance.
“I had a dream. We were sipping whiskey neat
Highest floor, The Bowery, and I was high enough
Somewhere along the lines, we stopped seeing eye to eye
You were staying out all night, and I had enough.”
Gomez gets nostalgic for the innocence of youth; hanging out, listening to The Libertines without the heavy responsibilities of adulthood. Her fans noticed the age reference right away: Seventeen, the same age she began dating Bieber.
“I had a dream, we were back to seventeen
Summer nights and The Libertines, never growing up
I’ll take with me the Polaroids and the memories
But you know I’m gonna leave behind the worst of us.”
“You’ll Be On Your Own“
In the music video for “It Ain’t Me”, a couple crashes in a motorcycle accident. The boyfriend falls into a coma. His girlfriend stays by his bedside in the hospital. She watches over him, dances, and places headphones on him so he can hear the music. The clip cuts to a dream sequence where the boyfriend runs toward the light at the end of a tunnel.
However, when the boyfriend awakes from the coma, his girlfriend isn’t there. There’s a butterfly on his head, which also appeared in the dream state with his girlfriend. She died in the accident.
“No, I don’t wanna know
Where you been or where you’re going
But I know I won’t be home
And you’ll be on your own.”
Is Selena Gomez Singing to Justin Bieber?
“It Ain’t Me” appeared on Kygo’s 2017 EP Stargazing and the track reached no. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. So, is it about Bieber?
“I can’t necessarily say that this is the song directed at Justin,” said Tamposi. “But I do think this is a song for her just displaying her strength as a woman in this industry and that particular place [where] she is in her life.”
She further explained how “It Ain’t Be” examines both the light and dark sides of a relationship. You can do your best to hang on during the difficult moments… but when those hard moments pile too high, it blocks out what’s left of the light.
Photo by Kevin Winter/WireImage
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