Selena Gomez is reflecting on a rare year of strife and success.
In a new interview with Billboard, published Dec. 17, the "Lose You to Love Me" singer opened up about what it was like releasing her very personal album Rare—which would go on to become her third number one album on the charts—in January of 2020, just two months before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States.
"There's this bittersweet feeling, of course," Selena told the outlet. "I would much rather the world be in a better place. Yet at the same time, it was so beautiful to see that my music could hopefully bring some people some sort of joy in the midst of it."
However, Rare wasn't her only major achievement within a difficult year. She also launched her cosmetics line Rare Beauty, and starred on the HBO Max cooking show Selena + Chef. She even started filming Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, her first starring scripted television role since her time on Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place.
As for music, however, Selena—who also teamed up with K-Pop girl group Blackpink for the single "Ice Cream" this year—shared that despite receiving some of the best reviews of her career, she's not coasting on Rare's success.
"It's nice to know that Rare became what it became for me," Selena explained. "And obviously I would like to say that it was the best album that I've released so far. But that doesn't mean that I'm not gonna challenge myself for the next."
Selena may be doing everything these days, but it sounds like she's determined to do whatever she does next even better that before. And that's a real, and rare, treat for fans.