SELENA

A perk of the job, if your job is being Selena Gomez, is that you get a front-row seat to the whole entire world. Back in the day, before coronavirus put a dent in global travel, and arena concerts, and the very premise of loud and sweaty live music, Gomez travelled the world most months; performing to crowds of people, walking red carpets at premieres and galas, meeting fans in cities as far flung as Rome, Manila and Nairobi.

Or Sydney, which Gomez last visited in 2018. “I miss it … I feel like I could live there,” says Gomez, Zooming into this interview from her new home in Los Angeles, the afternoon light filtering through gauzy cream curtains. “I just love the energy.” It’s been three years since she was in Australia, and they have been three big years in Gomez’s world. Three years in which she has emerged from the shadow of two relationships that made her feel, she says, “less than”. Three years in which she logged off social media for good, despite being at one point the most followed Instagram user . Three years in which she returned to the realm of music after a five-year break between albums, and is poised to return to television after a long absence from the small screen. Three years during which she has used her platform to advocate for awareness around mental health, chronic illness – Gomez has lupus, and in 2017 received a kidney transplant as part of her treatment – and politics, working with