Just over a year since the release of her 2020 album Rare, multi-threat Selena Gomez dropped a brand new single.
Titled "De Una Vez," the track is the former Disney Channel star's first Spanish-language single. "I am incredibly proud of my Latin background," SelGo shared. "It felt empowering to sing in Spanish again and ‘De Una Vez' is such a beautiful love anthem."
Selena, who is of Mexican heritage, is not fluent in the language, but did tell Harper's Bazaar in 2018 that it's something she wants to improve on in the future.
"I look at myself in the mirror every day and think, 'Man, I wish I knew more Spanish,'" she told the magazine, adding that she's proud to be able to represent the Latinx community in Hollywood.
So when the opportunity to fulfill her dream of singing in Spanish came along, Selena knew she had to get it right. In a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, the pop star said she put in "a lot of work" to perfect the lyrics.
"You know what's funny," she remarked, "is I actually think I sing better in Spanish. That was something I discovered. It was a lot of work, and look, you cannot mispronounce anything. It is something that needed to be precise, and needed to be respected by the audience I'm going to release this for. Of course I want everyone to enjoy the music, but I am targeting my fan base. I'm targeting my heritage, and I couldn't be more excited."
Selena explained that singing in Spanish actually "came very naturally," sharing, "there were obviously moments where there were specific timing, there were cues that were so quick that I had to learn that were challenging, but as far as being able to say, and speak, and roll my Rs, and do all of that, that's already in me, thank goodness."
Selena has been juggling multiple projects over the last year, so it's no surprise that she added new music to her list.
In August, she launched her HBO Max cooking series Selena + Chef, and in September, she launched Rare Beauty, a makeup collection available online and at Sephora. She's also set to star in the upcoming biopic In the Shadow of the Mountain, a movie about Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, the first openly gay woman to scale the highest point on every continent.
Listen to the new song above!