All the times Selena Gomez declared she was ‘quitting music’ when she actually wasn’t

Selena Gomez has a compulsion to hurriedly declare she is quitting music – and then simply, not quit it. And you know what? I have to love her for it really. Mostly because at least two of her pop albums are genuinely great and nearly all of them have a handful of bangers on them, but mostly because I love wondering how long she’s going to leave it after declaring she’s not going back to music to then drop a new bit of music. We all know pop stars get swept up in interviews and chat a bit of tosh, but Selena Gomez is the queen of making rash statements. In fact, her taking a break from Insta and then returning days later is STILL a rampant meme. With the fact she’s just announced a new album days after saying she’s not going back to music (lol) – here are all the times Selena Gomez announced she was quitting music only to simply… not quit.

FYI – I love Selena and I’m dying for new music. But nobody says she’s quitting more and I can’t get enough of it.

2016 – She didn’t know if music was for her

After the success of her album Revival, Selena was candid about her health struggles and mental health. She explained she was suffering from anxiety and panic attacks and depression off the back of her struggle with lupus. She said in an interview in 2016 “I don’t know if I will [make music again], I think I have to find out what it is that I want to do with my life.”

2019

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This year, Selena Gomez said “I’m not going to be doing music for a while.” The same year she released two big singles with Lose You To Love Me and Look At Her Now and then released a full new album in early 2020 with Rare.

2020

Just before she released her album Rare, Selena said “I was questioning myself as an artist. I was really unsure about myself.” She then explained how making Rare actually gave her a newfound appreciation for the music she made despite talking about the emotional toll working in the music industry had taken on her. She did say also that she wasn’t sure if making music was what the future held for her career.

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2021

Selena Gomez never said she was quitting music this year, but she did muse on how the industry had harmed her mental health through the years.

2022

In 2022 during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Selena Gomez said about making music “I don’t want to keep doing it if I’m being honest. The most important thing is I feel good about the music that I’m creating, and I’m not gonna let the idea of what people think about me stop me.”

2025

mind you this was her THREE DAYS ago 😭😭😭 selena gomez you’re so unserious pic.twitter.com/ahpKE2T6u5 https://t.co/6NGEqLFcdj

— fran (@SELSREP) February 14, 2025

This year so far has been awards season central, which Selena Gomez is heavily involved with because she starred in Emilia Perez which is nominated for a billion of them. Literally this week she said “It’s going to be very hard for me to go back to music after this.

Last night, though – she announced her new album which she’s making with her fiancé Benny Blanco and released the first track from it. It’s called I Said I Love You First, and at least she’s self aware about her quitting music ways because she announced it by saying “I always trick you guys.”

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