Yesterday I posted about Justin Bieber not commenting when asked by paparazzi about Selena Gomez and The Weeknd. Then, like right after, he no-commented commented, through TMZ:
Justin Bieber can spot an opportunist from a mile away ... at least now he can, and the opportunist is Selena Gomez. Our Bieber sources tell us ... the singer says he's been there, and believes Selena's using The Weeknd for promotion.
Bieber's intel -- and ours -- is that Selena and The Weeknd are working on music together. We're told Justin feels this is all cookie-cutter stuff ... she did it with him, Nick Jonas, Zedd and now with good ol' Abel.
When Selena wants to push new music, it seems she dates stars with whom she wants to collab. Long story short ... we're told Justin's rolling his eyes at the Selena/Weeknd love story. Can you tell?
About a year ago, last February, The New Yorker published a piece on TMZ and how it works. There was a lot of Justin Bieber involved, you remember? The article suggests that TMZ had some dirty sh-t on JB that they ended up burying in exchange for future business. Future business meaning JB exclusives, basically JB’s side of the story, direct from his team. More often than not, TMZ is pro-JB. And being pro-JB, in this case, means implying that Selena Gomez would be nothing without him, and would be nothing without the men in her life.
Was dating Justin Bieber a bonus to Selena Gomez’s profile? Yes. But was dating Selena Gomez a bonus to Justin Bieber’s profile? Also yes. She was his first public girlfriend. Their relationship was why I started posting regularly about JB here at LaineyGossip. JB’s relationship with Selena marked the first step in his transition from pop baby to pop young adult to pop trying-to-be-a-man. Without that two year romantic drama ---- from their innocent first handholding walks along to the beach, to their more grownup kisses, to all the breakups and makeups, and the angsty dancing, OMG remember the angsty dancing???
I have hard time making it through that entire video. So many feels! So many squicks! ---- JB’s image would not be what it is today. And I know I don’t have to tell you, but image is more than half of it. It’s not just the songs, it’s also the stories. Half of JB’s story is enmeshed with Selena’s. Without that story, he’s a kid from Canada who makes girls scream. There’s a reason I don’t write about Shawn Mendes. Yet.
For JB to characterise his past with Selena as a one-side exploitation on her part, well, it’s conveniently revisionist. And now he’s trying to tell us through TMZ that she needs to do the same with The Weeknd. Which is his way of reframing her entire career.
