Selena Gomez is an American singer and actress born in 1992. She began her career in 2002 starring in Barney and Friends. She later formed the band Selena Gomez & the Scene and released three studio albums between 2009-2011. Gomez then took a break from music to focus on her acting career. In 2013, she released her debut solo album Stars Dance but has since taken another break from music. Over the years, her persona and music style have matured as she has grown from a child star to an independent artist crafting her own image separate from Disney.
2. BACKGROUND
• Born in 1992 to her then 16 year old mother, her parents divorced when she was 5 years old.
• First breakthrough role in 2002 in ‘Barney and friends’.
• Guest starred in a few Disney shows and did many TV commercials in the US.
• Formed a banded called ‘Selena Gomez & the Scene’ and in August 2009, the band released their debut
studio album Kiss & Tell.
• Gomez and her band released their second studio album, A Year Without Rain, in September 2010.
• In June 2011 Gomez and her band released their third and final studio album When the Sun Goes Down.
• In January 2012, she announced that she would put her music career on hold to focus on her acting career,
and the band would be taking a break.
• Selena’s solo debut album, Stars Dance, was released on July 23, 2013.
• Gomez has since confirmed that she plans to take another musical break following the release of the album,
and hopes to focus on her acting career.
4. PERSONA
• Over the years Selena Gomez has changed dramatically yet so subtly.
• The youngest photo of her denotes her innocence as a sweet child who was adored in her role in
Barney and friends.
• The next photo of her shows her happy-go-lucky side and her infectious smile. This photo would
have been taken around the time she was starring in Wizards of Waverly Place, she would have
started to realise she had young girls looking up to her and needed to be a good role model to
them.
• The last photo of Selena shows how much she’s grown up and is not the robot she was moulded
to be by Disney. She’s broken out of their bubble and has become her own person.
5. STYLE OF MUSIC
• Pop, dance, electro-pop and dubstep.
• Her earlier music with her band had a pop vibe to it due to her age and the audience her music
would have been targeted at.
• However a most recent first solo album consists of all four music genres stated above, this change
is because as she has grown up her fans would have grown up with her and so to accommodate
to the change in her target audience and herself, the music style had to change too.
6. QUOTES
• “I was bullied every second of every day in elementary and middle school… Obviously, people are
going to bring you down because of your drive. But, ultimately, it makes you a stronger person to
turn your cheek and go the other way.”
• “I was never the popular kid at school. I had two friends, but I just sat at the back of the room and
got on with my work. School is such an awkward time in your life. I was never confident in
school.”
• “I never really said I want to be a role model. But then when it happened I was so down for it.”