Selena Gomez Says Her Self-Love Hit 'Who Says' Almost Went to Another Artist: 'I Fought for It'

Selena Gomez has been an advocate for self-love throughout her career — especially after she released her song “Who Says” at age 19. 

The singer/actress revealed that the empowering 2011 hit actually almost went to another artist, and she “fought” to be able to keep it and release it with her act Selena Gomez and the Scene. 

The Only Murders in the Building star spoke about her journey convincing Disney to let her sing the beloved song at Twilio’s SIGNAL conference on Wednesday. “It’s actually a funny story: I was working with Disney at the time, and they were actually giving the song to another artist,” the “Love You to Love Me” singer said.

She recalled just how emotional she was about making “Who Says” her own and sharing it with her audience. “And I cried — I remember, I was with my mom — because I loved the song so much. I basically said to my label, ‘I feel like my fans are young and they need it.’ That’s all I kept saying because I was 16 at the time. I was like, ‘I think my fans really need it; tell [them] my fans really need the song.’”

The song, which was co-written by Emanuel Kiriakou and Priscilla Hamilton, Gomez explained ended up being like “a gift” that she “did not know [she] needed.”  

“And I love, love that song, and it has carried with me through my whole career, and I fought for it,” the Rare Beauty entrepreneur continued. The “Calm Down” artist also shared that she feels like she often still needs to hear the message behind the song, which repeats, “Who says you're not perfect / Who says you're not worth it.”

“Who Says” was the lead single off Gomez and her then-band The Scene’s third album, When the Sun Goes Down. The inspiring pop track charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and was eventually certified Platinum by the RIAA. 

Upon the release of When the Sun Goes Down in 2011, she told Billboard how much the song meant to her at the time. The recording artist said, “It’s probably my favorite I’ve ever recorded. I think it’s really meaningful and it’s kind of a big anthem. It went platinum so it’s my second song ever that’s platinum. I was really excited, I was in the car when I found out promoting the third album. It gave me a big boost.”

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The pop star is gearing up to release new music. Last week, Gomez announced her first song in nearly a year, “Single Soon," will be released on Friday via Interscope Records. 

A press release stated that Gomez “wanted to give her fans a fun end of the summer song to enjoy as they’ve been patiently waiting for new music.”

She teased “Single Soon,” which was produced by Benny Blanco and Cashmere Cat, with a post on Instagram . In the caption she wrote, “Y’all have been asking for new music for a while. Since I’m not quite done with SG3, I wanted to put out a fun little song I wrote a while back that’s perfect for the end of summer. SINGLE SOON. August 25th. Presave it now. 😘."