Justin and Hailey Bieber have been married for seven years now and they have a baby, but the internet remains clinically obsessed with their Selena Gomez-related drama. Selena, of course, dated Justin on and off from 2010 to 2018, and he got engaged to Hailey months after he and Selena split for the last time. Ever since, there’s been constant online chatter about Hailey and Selena’s complicated relationship.
There was recently a rumor that Hailey liked a shady TikTok about Selena, which Hailey’s rep has since denied. Plus, there’s a seven-part “docuseries” about Hailey and Selena that’s been circulating, and now, there’s a new theory that one of Selena’s new songs is about a conversation she had with Hailey in the past. Selena recently shared explanations of the songs on her and Benny Bianco’s album, I Said I Love You First, and fans think she hinted that Hailey inspired the second to last track. So, is Selena Gomez’s “Don’t Take It Personally” actually about Hailey Bieber? Let’s break down this theory.
Selena Gomez “Don’t Take It Personally” Lyrics: Hailey Bieber Theory
In the “Don’t Take It Personally” chorus, Selena channels her former partner’s new girlfriend being *fake* nice to her. “Please don’t take it personally / Some things are just meant to be,” she croons from the new GF’s perspective. “Don’t waste all your energy / We both know that he loves me / Oh honey, you deserve it / I know you’re gonna find somebody perfect.” We all understand the mean girl subtext of those lines.
Honestly, I was surprised when I first listened to this song because it seemed super condescending and unnecessarily cruel to (who I assumed was) Benny’s ex… and that’s not Selena’s vibe at all. Now that we have some context from her, the lyrics make a lot more sense. In I Said I Love You First — Explained, Selena reveals what inspired this song. “It was actually told to me,” she shared about the lyrics. “This is actually the experience of someone, maybe in my past, that had gone through whatever they needed to go through to get through life. This is odd to say, but yes, I’m the person that it happened to.” Teeaaa.
Selena was single for five years before her relationship with Benny, so she probably hasn’t interacted with a lot of exes’ partners recently. Plus, we know that she and Hailey have had conversations since Hailey married Justin. (Hailey shared that during her 2022 Call Her Daddy appearance. At the time, the Rhode founder claimed: “It’s all respect, it’s all love. There’s no drama, personally.”) Obviously, we can’t know for sure if “Don’t Take It Personally” is about Hailey, but it does seem likely.
