AUTHORING THE SELF: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED SELENA GOMEZ SONGS

Abstract

The literary landscape abounds in authors who have drawninspiration from their own life and experiences for their writing – for instance,Charles Dickens, Marcel Proust, James Joyce,T. S. Eliot and countless others. The same can be said of artists belonging to popular culture. This article aims to offer a critical and autobiographical analysis of three of Selena Gomez’s songs, part of her album Rare (Deluxe edition) (2020). As someone who has struggled with numerous ups and downs in her relationships, especially with singer, songwriter, and former boyfriend Justin Bieber, and physical and mental health crises, the selected songs provide Gomez an outlet to reflect on her past while simultaneously breaking free of it and emerging stronger. Though the songs have been written in collaboration, they derive much of their implicit content from Gomez’s personal life.Moreover, they combine a number of strategies and/or literary devises in order to author the self, including retrospective, third-person narration, figures of speech, and expression and confession of desires. These devices add rich layers of meaning to the texts, inviting detailed study and analysis.