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Trust Selena Gomez to keep things real and remind us all why Instagram does not equal reality — and why being an ‘It girl’ may not be all it's cracked up to be.
A recent “fan” TikTok video showed an old clip of a baby Gomez (we're guessing it's from around 2011). In the video, Gomez is seen walking down the street with her then-boyfriend Justin Bieber, wearing a black halter dress with an oversized coat slung over her shoulder. As she greets the fans and flicks her long, perfectly straight hair for the paparazzi, there's no denying that she looks incredibly chic.
So thick. So full. So swingy.
The maker of the video overlayed Bieber's song “Company” over the video and wrote in the caption, “I know and so do you that at the time she would never have gotten engaged to Benny [Blanco, Gomez's current boyfriend], she was in her IT GIRL era."
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Gomez, who came across the video, responded simply, “Kinda makes me laugh because I was so depressed back then lol.”
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Gomez's comment may be specific to her experience, but it points to universal truth: being an It girl might not actually be… all that fun.
It's easy to look at social media and daydream about being “that girl” — the one with the trendiest clothes, the silkiest hair, the smoothest skin and the je ne sais quoi of a true It girl. Social media makes us all want to be It girls — and, as this recent TikTok shows, it encourages us to look up to other girls who seem to fit into that category. But Gomez lived through her own It girl era — and, guess what, it didn't make her happy.
Gomez's life with her boyfriend, music producer Benny Blanco, is seemingly much more low-key. The pair haven't made a single red carpet appearance together — however, they have shared countless snaps on Instagram showing them cuddling on the sofa in pyjamas or simply chilling in Gomez's garden.
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Selena Gomez no longer looks the part of the prototypical It girl — and she's happier. Who could've guessed!?
Gomez has been vocal about the dangers of building a life around external validation (ie, craving It girl status) for years. In fact, in 2018, she announced that she was stepping back from Instagram. An assistant took over her accounts. Although Gomez is back on Instagram (and, evidently, TikTok) she tries to keep a healthy distance.
“It’s a cliché, but girls are mean,” she told Time earlier this year. “It’s a very weird competition, being in the cool girls area — and then I’m just kind of like, there. I don’t know where I’m meant to belong.”
She added, "I love having levelheaded people around that couldn’t give two fucks about what I do.”
In other words, Gomez is done being valued purely for her ability to play the role of It girl, actually. And honestly, we would all do well to take some inspiration from her.
