On Aug. 25, Selena Gomez dropped her new song, “Single Soon.” In the lyrics of the song, Gomez sings about living her best life after devising a plan to break up with her boyfriend. Following the single’s release, the internet sparked a new theory that “Single Soon” was written about Gomez’s ex, The Weeknd. In the song, the Disney Channel alum sings, “I don’t wanna see a tear, and the weekend’s almost here.” Naturally, fans thought she was referring to The Weeknd. But others also thought the lyric “see a tear” may have been a reference to the singer’s 2020 hit single “Save Your Tears,” which, thanks to Ariana Grande, hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2021.
Though the internet was convinced “Single Soon” is about The Weeknd, Gomez rejected the speculation pretty quickly. On Aug. 27, HollywoodLife shared a photo of Gomez and The Weeknd on Instagram with a caption outlining the theory. Gomez didn’t waste time commenting on the post, saying, “Couldn’t be more false.” While Gomez didn’t go into more detail, according to Bustle, “Single Soon” was supposedly written while she was recording her 2020 album Rare. If that’s true, then the song would’ve been a thing before “Save Your Tears” was released, which debunks the fan reference.
Selena Gomez and The Weeknd first met in 2015 during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, where they both performed. They began dating in 2017, just a few short months after Gomez split from longtime boyfriend Justin Bieber and The Weeknd called it quits from on-again-off-again girlfriend Bella Hadid. While they were together, Gomez and The Weeknd attended red carpet events together and traveled around the world for R&B singer’s Starboy: Legend of the Fall tour. It was even reported that The Weeknd scheduled his tour around Gomez’s kidney transplant, which took place in September 2017, to be by her side as she recovered.
In October 2017, the pair ended their relationship. A month later, in November 2017, Gomez spoke out about the break up in an interview with Billboard, saying she was “really proud” of the way things ended between her and The Weeknd.
“Something that I’m really proud of is that there’s such a true friendship [between me and The Weeknd],” she said. “I truly have never experienced anything like that in my life. We ended it as best friends, and it was genuinely about encouraging and caring [for each other], and that was pretty remarkable for me.”