I Said I Love You First

The fourth album from Selena Gomez—the 32-year-old multi-hyphenate who needs no introduction, having been famous for approximately two-thirds of her life—doubles as her first album with her fiancé, benny blanco, who has produced and written more hit singles than you’ve had hot dinners. (It’s blanco’s third album, following 2018’s feature-happy Friends Keep Secrets and its 2021 sequel.) The 14-track collaboration, which the pair announced shortly after their late-2024 engagement, seemed to come together much like their relationship—comfortably, without being planned or forced. “This was just an idea that started in our bedroom—like, ‘Let’s just make something fun,’” blanco tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, describing the ease with which the songs unfolded, often collaborating with songwriters (Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter) whose relationships with both Gomez and blanco went back years. “Everything felt right. It almost felt too good.” Written and recorded mostly at blanco’s house, I Said I Love You First shows the power couple’s love story through a wide-angle lens, zooming out to include past heartbreaks, mistakes, and self-doubts. On “Younger and Hotter Than Me,” Gomez strikes a Lana-esque chord between vulnerable and withering, sniping gently at an old fling: “We’re not getting any younger/But your girlfriends seem to.” Meanwhile, blanco sets the tone at “dynamically moody” with ’80s synth-pop beats ideal for crying on the dance floor, or for highlighting Gomez’s legacy as one of modern pop’s iconic Sad Girls. Here, she sings in Spanish on the slow-burning “Ojos Tristes,” leaves ill-considered voicemails with Gracie Abrams on “Call Me When You Break Up,” and pulls off a respectfully bratty Charli xcx impression on “Bluest Flame.” Potential sappiness is countered by tongue-in-cheek humor: On the entendre-heavy “Sunset Blvd,” the couple embrace naked on a Hollywood street while concerned bystanders call the police. “This whole experience has been cathartic and beautiful,” Gomez says. “And I got to do it with my best friend.”