Selena Gomez celebrates her and Benny Blanco’s love story on their album I Said I Love You First. But she also gets the last word with an ex trying to make a move on her again in her song “How Does It Feel to Be Forgotten.”
It is, lyrically, the musical version of “winning the breakup,” with a pre-chorus that goes, “’Cause you walked in, big-ass grin / Talkin’ like we’re friends, honey, what were you thinkin’? / He loves me, I love him / Look at you, just look at you now.”
I Said I Love You First by Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco
The “look at you now” line harkens back to Gomez’s Rare track “Look at Her Now,” which captured her finding her confidence again after her final 2018 Justin Bieber breakup.
But before fans jump to conclusions that song is about him or any specific ex, it’s worth noting that Gomez said in the narrated edition of her album that this track is not targeted at one specific person. “Now, the thing about this is that Benny and I created this album from experiences that we had together and in the past and present,” she said. “A lot of people like to dissect my music, and I can tell you that this specific song [is] much more about what we’ve experienced. It’s not my past, it’s more just—it’s just an honest song, and I think that’s all I wanted it to be.”
Gomez also spoke on Spotify’s Countdown To... series about how I Said I Love You First is based on a different, more recent time in her life.
Over the past few years, Gomez privately dated multiple people and even sparked rumors publicly with musicians Zayn Malik and Drew Taggart in 2023. Gomez started dating Blanco in June 2023 before they ultimately went public with their relationship in December 2023.
While speaking with Blanco, Gomez explained that the interpretation of her I Said I Love You First songs “is going to be up to the audience. However, I would like to say most of this album has nothing to do with what everyone may go to. And I think it’s important for me to say that because I’ve evolved so much, and I have experienced life with new people. I’ve had to go through transitions with friends and lose people in my life and gain new people, and I’ve had a whole new life forever so it’s up for whatever people want [to interpret the songs as] but to me it was about both of our pasts and our history and also just inspired by friends and relationships, like some songs were actually meant [to be] about friendships in my life and I think that’s what to me the album was about, and I just wanted to get that out there because that was really important to me.”
“How Does It Feel to Be Forgotten” is a satisfying song though, even if its subject is a mystery to everyone but Gomez. Read through the lyrics below. The song ends with a Spanish outro, “Ahora todo está dicho y hecho / Todo está olvidado,” which translates in English to: “Now all is said and done / All is forgotten.”
Verse 1: Selena Gomez
I sip it in the way he likes
Ruby red, locking eyes
Lipstick kisses with no ice
On the edge, paradise
Pre-Chorus: Selena Gomez
’Cause you walked in, big-ass grin
Talkin’ like we’re friends, honey, what were you thinkin’?
He loves me, I love him
Look at you, just look at you now
Chorus: Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco
You’re so embarrassing
Go cry when no one’s watchin’
I can’t imagine it
How does it feel to be forgotten (Ah), forgotten? Ah-ah
How does it feel?
I hope one day you heal
How does it feel to be forgotten?
Forgottеn
Verse 2: Selena Gomez
I know it must be difficult
I know that it is not what you thought, no
Pre-Chorus: Selena Gomez
’Cause you walked in, big-ass grin
Talkin’ likе we’re friends, honey, what were you thinkin’?
He loves me, I love him
Look at you, just look at you now
Chorus: Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco
You’re so embarrassing
Go cry when no one’s watchin’
I can’t imagine it
How does it feel to be forgotten (Ah), forgotten? Ah-ah
How does it feel?
I hope one day you heal
How does it feel to be forgotten?
Forgotten
Outro
Ahora todo está dicho y hecho
Todo está olvidado
