Popstar Selena Gomez doesn't care what people think about her anymore.
The 23-year-old singer has been in the spotlight since she was a teenager, starring in TV show Barney & Friends and Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place. In recent years, her on-off relationship with fellow musician Justin Bieber has brought her a lot of unwanted attention. Now they have split for good, Selena has been able to refocus on her music and her new album, Revival.
"This record is me feeling like I can breathe," she confessed to Time magazine. "I just don’t care anymore. Working with Disney, I had a certain amount of my respect for my image. And I do still - everything I want to do has such a quality to it. I just don’t care about the noise anymore. It drives me crazy."
The intense media scrutiny even made the brunette beauty depressed and reluctant to leave her house. Trust also became an issue, with Selena being unsure of who she could rely on.
"That’s not how I want to live my life," she continued. "I had to do a lot of work on myself to say, 'If I lost all this tomorrow, I’d be fine. I could open up a coffee shop and do a play every other month.' I need my life to not be dictated by these people that I don’t even know."
Selena has poured her thoughts and feelings into the record and is excited for its release later this month (Oct15). She also hopes the album will dispel any myths about her personality and behaviour that may have been falsely reported in the press.
"Ultimately, people - I’m referring to the media, and then I’ll be done talking about them because it frustrates me - just want me to be this evil person that I’m not," she sighed. "It’s the whole 'build you up and knock you down' thing. I’m not any of those things. I work hard, and anyone that you ever talk to that’s worked with me knows I’m professional, kind and that I care about people."
