Selena Gomez spreads her mysterious magic across Canada
The singer/actress tours boyfriend Bieber’s native land
The hot celebrity topic since the summer has been the dating status of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. Are they? Aren’t they? Will the uncertainty never end?
It looks as if the couple is no longer keeping up with the illusion. Bieber, the Baby heartthrob, finally admitted to Britain’s New! magazine last week that he’s in love with Gomez, adding that “everybody can see” the 19-year-old former star of Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place “is hot.”
The couple has since used every opportunity to profess their love for each other. Bieber, 17, spoke in the interview of wanting to get married and have kids; Gomez, for her part, posted a picture on her Twitter account Wednesday of a Tim Hortons lunch, presumably to make her Canadian boyfriend — who is currently on tour in South America — jealous of her double-double and multi-grain bagel.
The real news is somehow getting lost in translation: Gomez’s tour of Canada (she perfoms Friday in Vancouver.) The pop singer’s We Own the Night tour, which is in support of her third album, When the Sun Goes Down, winds down Oct. 30 in Montreal.
Gomez hasn’t done many in-depth interviews of late, at least ones that focus solely on her music; the majority of articles found during a recent Google search discuss either her relationship with Bieber, what she wore to a red-carpet affair, or when her impending fragrance is due to hit shelves.
An interview — even a five-minute chat while hitting Tim Hortons — could have put the paparazzi side of her life in the dark for just a moment. After all, Gomez is on tour with a new album and her own music — remember that? — to promote.
Then again, talking to the traditional press doesn’t always serve a purpose for pop stars. Because, once the mystery is gone, and some of the celebrity sheen has been dulled by some real-life rapping, maybe there’s not much to talk about after all.
Nonetheless, in the journalism world, a story is a story, and in the pop world, Gomez is one of the bigger ones to cover at the moment. With that in mind, we rolled up our sleeves and dug into the history books to uncover some notable notes about Gomez’s life. Here’s what rose above the trash-talk din.
‹ She’s dating Justin Bieber.
‹ The native of Grand Prairie, Texas, was named after Selena Quintanilla-Perez, the Latin music superstar who was murdered by her fan-club president in 1995. Quintanilla-Perez was considered Mexico’s equivalent to Madonna, and was portrayed by Jennifer Lopez in the 1997 film, Selena. This summer, Gomez performed on a bill with Lopez at L.A.’s Staples Center.
‹ Gomez was cast as Gianna on the popular children’s show, Barney & Friends. She appeared in five episodes during the 2002 season, including ones with another future teen star, Demi Lovato. The two teens also appeared together in the 2009 film, Princess Protection Program. That same year, reports surfaced that Lovato was dating — wait for it — Justin Bieber.
‹ Her biggest success as an actress was Wizards of Waverly Place, a Disney Channel series in which she played one of three siblings with magical powers. The popular Emmy-winning program came to a close earlier this year after four successful seasons.
‹ The most recent films to feature Gomez in the lead role have been hits. Ramona and Beezus (2010) and Monte Carlo (2011) earned a combined $49 million at the box office in North America, nearly giving Di Novi Pictures a 150 per cent return on its investment. In the current movie market, that’s significant.
‹ Music has been Gomez’s calling card in recent years. Each record has been more successful than the last, with albums credited to Selena Gomez & the Scene — Kiss & Tell (2009), A Year Without Rain (2010), and When The Sun Goes Down (2011) — selling close to one million copies apiece. However, she has been given only a handful of co-writing credits to date, and is considered more of a singer than songwriter.
‹ She has put her fame to good use on many occasions. Gomez has been attached to more than a dozen charities over the years, most notably UNICEF. In 2009, when Gomez was just 17, she became the youngest ambassador in the fund’s 65-year history.
‹ Gomez has amassed more than 500 million views on her official YouTube channel. A whopping 300 million of those have come from three songs, Naturally (127 million), A Year Without Rain (90 million) and Who Says (89 million). By comparison, Bieber’s three biggest YouTube hits have amassed more than one billion combined views, making him one of the most-watched artists on the video-streaming site.
‹ Gomez has a reported net worth of $4 million. Her albums have been successful (the latest, When the Sun Goes Down, peaked at No. 3 on the charts), but her fortune most likely came via her TV roles. Her reported per-episode salary during Wizards of Waverly Place was $30,000.
Justin Bieber got a haircut in February. This alone would still be huge news, but when you add in the bit that a toymaker lost $100,000 because of said haircut, it is not as big of news.
Alas, The Bieb cut his hair, ditching the "sideswept" hairdo that became his trademark. This was not good for Jay Foreman, the founder and CEO of toy-making company The Bridge Direct.
Foreman, you see, and his company make Justin Bieber dolls. The day news of Bieber's haircut broke (yes, news of Bieber's haircut broke), he heard screeches coming from his staff.
"First off, I had no idea what he did," Foreman told CNNMoney. "I heard a lot of shrieks around me, and people running in and out of their offices."
The Bridge Direct had already begun producing dolls for the 2011 holiday season at the time, so the move was devastating to more than just fans who really, really loved the old Bieb.
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Foreman's brand managers were among the first to find out about Bieber, who is dating Selena Gomez, and his new haircut, as many had started Google alerts to track the singer's every move in the news. Which is to say: They were tracking the singer's every move.
"I got everyone into a conference room and we looked at some images," Foreman told CNNMoney. "We weren't sure what he had done. Then it became obvious that his trademark was gone."
Foreman decided to keep production running, so dolls coming out on the shelves will still sport the old Bieber hairdo. That means when fans are Under the Mistletoe, it won't be with! a prope rly styled Bieber. The company was able to alter production for next spring, which upped costs.
For his part, Foreman is not too torn up about the haircut.
"You take a risk when you're creating a product based on a celebrity," Foreman said.
This is Shaquille O'Neal looking at a Justin Bieber doll.
Surely, Foreman thought, along with the legions of other Bieber fans, that the hairdo would always stay the same. But you can Never Say Never.