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Episode: Selena Gomez Has Found Her Balance

Author: NPR
Duration: 00:45:47

Episode Shownotes

The actor-singer-entrepreneur stars in Emilia Pérez, the new Spanish-language musical about a cartel boss who undergoes gender-affirming surgery. Gomez talks with Tonya Mosley about re-learning Spanish, her Disney years, and working alongside comedy legends Martin Short and Steve Martin in Only Murders in the Building. Also, Ken Tucker shares three

great country songs: Maren Morris' "People Still Show Up," Dwight Yoakam's "A Dream That Never Ends," and Shawna Thompson's "Lean On Neon."Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Summary

In this episode of Fresh Air, Selena Gomez delves into her role in the Spanish-language musical 'Emilia Pérez', where she plays the wife of a cartel leader undergoing gender-affirming surgery. She reflects on her journey of re-learning Spanish and the importance of her Mexican heritage. Gomez also shares insights from her experience on 'Only Murders in the Building' with comedy legends Martin Short and Steve Martin, expressing gratitude for the supportive environment. Additionally, she discusses her complex relationship with Disney, childhood fame, and her struggles with lupus and mental health, emphasizing the importance of seeking help and finding balance.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Selena Gomez Has Found Her Balance) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_06
This message comes from Hulu. From visionary filmmaker Taika Waititi and author Charles Yu, the Hulu original series Interior Chinatown tells the story of an ordinary waiter swept up in a criminal investigation. All episodes are now streaming on Hulu.

00:00:18 Speaker_04
This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And I recently had the chance to check out the movie Emilia Perez, the new Spanish-language musical that stars my guest today, Selena Gomez.

00:00:30 Speaker_04
The film is centered on a lawyer named Rita, played by Zoe Saldana, who is kidnapped and tasked with helping a ruthless Mexican cartel leader secretly undergo gender-affirming surgery to begin a new life as Emilia Perez.

00:00:45 Speaker_04
Selena Gomez plays Jesse Del Monte, the wife of the cartel leader, who knows nothing about her husband's transition and is led to believe that Emilia Perez is a distant cousin.

00:00:56 Speaker_04
The film is almost entirely in Spanish, and Gomez, who grew up speaking it but lost fluency, took lessons to prepare for the role. Here she is singing a stirring performance of Bienvenida, which means welcome.

00:01:10 Speaker_12
Bienvenida a tu país amado, bonita A tu lujosa cárcel primita Donde todo es caro, encantada Y gracias a la familia, bienvenida Sea amable y saluda, querida Dia Matrona Emilia A las nuevas custodias primita De tu jaula dorada bienvenida

00:01:46 Speaker_04
That's Selena Gomez singing in the new Netflix movie musical, Amelia Perez.

00:01:52 Speaker_04
As an ensemble, Gomez, along with Zoe Saldana and Carla Sofia Gascon, who portrays both Amelia Perez and the cartel leader before she transitions, won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize for Best Actress.

00:02:06 Speaker_04
Selena Gomez is an actor, singer, and the founder of the successful cosmetic line Rare Beauty. She began acting in 2002 at 10 years old on the television series Barney and Friends.

00:02:18 Speaker_04
She went on to star in several Disney shows before her breakout role in the series The Wizards of Waverly Place.

00:02:25 Speaker_04
As a musician, she's had 16 consecutive top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest active run of any artist, and she's the most followed woman on Instagram.

00:02:36 Speaker_04
We talked about some of her struggles with such a high level of fame and her diagnosis of lupus and bipolar disorder.

00:02:44 Speaker_04
Gomez was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role in the mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short. Selena Gomez, welcome to Fresh Air.

00:02:56 Speaker_09
Thank you, that was such a lovely introduction.

00:02:59 Speaker_04
I was wondering, you spent, was it nearly half a year, training, preparing for this role, learning Spanish. You actually grew up speaking Spanish until something happened. It took a turn where you weren't speaking it anymore.

00:03:12 Speaker_09
I was fluent when I was seven, and before then, all up until then. But I got my first job at seven, and most of my jobs from that point on were English. And I moved from Texas to California to pursue my dream with Disney. And I, again, just lost it.

00:03:34 Speaker_09
And, you know, and that's that's kind of the case for a lot of people, especially Mexican American, I think. You know, my cousins and people and our lives, it's so dominated by English speaking people, which is fine. But I wish I had had more.

00:03:55 Speaker_09
I wish I just knew a lot more than I do. But I think that's why I try to honor my culture as much as possible from releasing an album in Spanish to, you know, wanting to pursue this movie that I thought would be an incredible challenge.

00:04:12 Speaker_09
I don't think it'll be the last thing I do in Spanish.

00:04:15 Speaker_04
Do you feel more fluent in it now?

00:04:16 Speaker_09
I do. And don't try to talk anything around me because I will know what you're saying if you think that I can't. I just have a hard time responding sometimes to like form the sentence correctly.

00:04:29 Speaker_04
Right, because even though you weren't speaking it, did you feel like you could understand it when you heard other folks speak it?

00:04:34 Speaker_09
Completely. It's also, you know, Spanish is one of the most beautiful languages and the inflections and the melody behind how they speak, it's very telling and it's a very emotional language, I think.

00:04:53 Speaker_04
Let's talk a little bit about the themes in the movie. She's looking for freedom because she's married to this very brutal drug kingpin. And so all the things that go along with that life. She has two children by him.

00:05:09 Speaker_04
It's not explicitly said, but it seems as if maybe she got married when she was very young to him. There's a transformation. with your husband from male to female, but there's also a transformation of this character.

00:05:24 Speaker_04
She's like a dormant volcano of a wife, and we watch her as she goes through. And I want to play a clip, and this clip I'm about to play It's several years after her husband has had the transition. She thinks he's dead.

00:05:40 Speaker_04
She goes back to Mexico and she connects with a man who really is the love of her life. And in this scene, the two of you, this man, you and this man, you all are in a club and you're singing the song Mi Camino. Let's listen.

00:05:57 Speaker_13
Si me quedo en la parranca, es mi parranca Si me doblo de dolor, es mi dolor Si me mando al séptimo cielo, es mi cielo Si me equivoco, te camino igual Cuando salgo mucho de fiesta Cuando me porto

00:06:25 Speaker_14
foreign foreign

00:06:51 Speaker_04
That's my guest Selena Gomez singing the song Mi Camino in the musical film Amelia Perez. OK, Selena, this is a liberation song.

00:07:00 Speaker_09
It is. It's so beautiful. I'm so proud of it.

00:07:04 Speaker_04
The words, I'm gonna read a little bit of the words in English. If I fall into the ravine, it's my ravine. If I double the pain, it's my pain. If I send myself to the seventh heaven, it's my heaven. If I lose my way, it's still mine. I wanna love myself.

00:07:20 Speaker_04
It's a liberation song, and to me, without being too sappy about it, I feel like it sounds familiar to your life path. Do you see that?

00:07:29 Speaker_09
Yeah, actually I do. It was one of the most emotional songs that I got to record during the process of shooting this movie. And I remember just singing it and thinking to myself, this could have been my song. This could have been a

00:07:49 Speaker_09
you know, me song on an album I would put out personally because it's so well said and it feels very true to who I am, to where I am. I think that when I do make mistakes, I don't feel like I should or necessarily need to be punished for them.

00:08:12 Speaker_09
It's something that I feel like I need to grow and learn from. And I think that sometimes there's been moments in my career where people weren't allowing me to grow up.

00:08:24 Speaker_09
They weren't allowing me to make choices that you know wasn't exactly what they thought I should be doing.

00:08:31 Speaker_04
AMT – Acting, as you said, has always been your first love. We're going to get into some things like I Can't Believe Girl Interrupted is one of the first films you saw. Like what?

00:08:46 Speaker_09
Yeah, no, my mom was, um, you know, she was so just, I just remember feeling like she was the coolest person ever. She's still cool. But as a kid, I looked up to her so much.

00:08:59 Speaker_04
But she kind of was. I mean, she was 16 when she had you. So she was a young mom. She was a young cool mom.

00:09:04 Speaker_09
We were like sisters. in a way. And she loved everything about art. And I remember sometimes she would let me watch things, but she would do the old, cover your ears and eyes, like be careful. So yeah, she was young.

00:09:23 Speaker_09
Maybe I shouldn't have watched some of the things they did. However, I think I fell in love with it for the right reasons.

00:09:30 Speaker_09
It was a whole range of different styles and we'd watch, you know, French films or we'd watch anything that kind of sparked something in my mom and she would explain things to me and I would always ask questions.

00:09:47 Speaker_09
I was inquisitive about the work and it wasn't just an experience for me. I wanted to know everything. And I think that's where it kind of stemmed from.

00:09:59 Speaker_04
Do you remember the first time you were on stage or first performance?

00:10:03 Speaker_09
Yeah, the funny thing is I wasn't in any school plays necessarily. I was seven when I auditioned for Barney, which is the big purple dinosaur, if people don't remember. But I was in line, it was 1,400 kids, and it was in Texas.

00:10:23 Speaker_09
And I waited in line for a while and I just thought here's my chance. I could do something really cool.

00:10:30 Speaker_04
You thought that in the moment.

00:10:32 Speaker_09
Yeah. I just thought this is something I really want to do and I hope I get it. And I went to three rounds of callbacks. They were very serious about Barney back in the day.

00:10:45 Speaker_09
And I got the part and it would have to be the first time I stepped foot on the set of Barney it was Magical not to mention. I'm seven and they make it for kids. You know, they make it this beautiful experience and the sets are gorgeous.

00:11:05 Speaker_09
I just got the bug immediately. I had school there as well. A bunch of kids I got to grow up with. And at the same time, maybe Barney taught me how to clean and how to say I love you.

00:11:21 Speaker_04
Right, because you're taking in all the lessons that you all are teaching us too. Totally. Acting is your first love. Music is also what you are known for worldwide. Huge fan base. You've called it a hobby that kind of got out of control.

00:11:40 Speaker_09
Yeah, and I think I need to correct that because I think whenever Whenever I do interviews that are written, I think it's very challenging for me because it gets a little misunderstood. Music is going to forever be a part of my soul.

00:11:57 Speaker_09
I was named after a Tejano singer. My dad was a DJ. My mom listened to Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Wright. I grew up around music. every genre.

00:12:15 Speaker_09
So what I meant by that was it did kind of, you know, take over for a while. And it's not that I was upset or bothered by it, it was more so that I had missed and I was really craving something different.

00:12:32 Speaker_09
So I think that may have gotten a little confusing because to me when I hear that it makes me seem ungrateful but it's not. So I'm glad you brought that up because that is something that I love deeply.

00:12:50 Speaker_09
I just really missed being on a set and creating content that had nothing to do with me.

00:12:58 Speaker_04
Well, for those who don't watch it, Only Murders in the Building, the Hulu series, is centered on you, Martin Short, and Steve Martin.

00:13:05 Speaker_04
You guys are a trio of residents in this really beautiful Upper West Side apartment building called the Arconia, and you set out to investigate a string of murders in the building and start a true crime podcast to chronicle the investigation.

00:13:22 Speaker_04
Martin Short has said, like in all of the interviews, just how much fun you guys have on the set. He alludes it to being kind of exceptional in that way. What makes it fun? Well, first off,

00:13:36 Speaker_09
Steve Martin and Martin Short are legends in their own right. And it is very difficult to keep a straight face when you're talking to them about anything because they simply exude and radiate comedy. How do you do it?

00:13:54 Speaker_09
Because you're the straight man of the three. I know, but I mean, I just have to, I gotta get through it. You know, once we do the table read and they'll chime in, it's, it is challenging. But I think the best part of Only Murders is the environment.

00:14:12 Speaker_09
And I think that's what Marty is referring to, because These two actors who have been working longer than I've been alive are always on time, could not be more compassionate and kind to everyone, class act intelligence, their humor is smart and wise.

00:14:34 Speaker_09
and they'll sit down and talk to you know our camera guy and ask how his daughter's doing and it just to me was a very good place for me to start back into acting. It just was safe and it was so fun and they made it feel like it was

00:14:55 Speaker_09
They just made it feel like it was home. How did the role come about for you? So Steve came up with the idea himself Not about me.

00:15:04 Speaker_09
He originally wanted the show to be three comedians three guys and John Hoffman came in who's the co-creator and said I have this idea this maybe unconventional, you know relationship or friendship that these you know people

00:15:22 Speaker_09
care about so what if we had you know like a 28 year old and Steve you know was like well let me know your ideas or whatever you know you're thinking and John got on a call with me and I had told him how much I

00:15:38 Speaker_09
you know, we'll watch 48 Hours or with my mom I'd watch, you know, Forensic Files.

00:15:47 Speaker_04
You're into the true crime stuff.

00:15:48 Speaker_09
I think that he, it was music to his ears and he was very genuine and sweet and after the call they offered me the part.

00:15:59 Speaker_04
I want to play a clip from season one. So you all live in the same apartment and you don't really know each other that well but you're starting to come into this idea that something really fishy is happening.

00:16:13 Speaker_04
Here your character Mabel is joining the two others in Oliver's apartment and Oliver is played by Martin Short and Charles is played by Steve Martin. Let's listen.

00:16:23 Speaker_07
Oh, how did you get here?

00:16:25 Speaker_09
It was open.

00:16:26 Speaker_07
I don't lock my door. Never have. That's insane.

00:16:28 Speaker_09
It's neighborly. I mean, a murderer probably lives in the building, but I guess old white guys are only afraid of colon cancer and societal change. Sad.

00:16:37 Speaker_07
A murderer doesn't probably live in the building. A murderer definitely lives in the building. Lester checked all the security footage, and no one unknown to him came in or out during the hours around Tim's murder. Isn't that great for the podcast?

00:16:49 Speaker_07
So, Mabel, tell us. Did you learn anything from the online world of Tim Kono?

00:16:55 Speaker_09
He didn't post much on his online world. He seems to have had a really sad, quiet life.

00:17:01 Speaker_07
You checked all the websites.

00:17:03 Speaker_09
Yep, all the websites.

00:17:05 Speaker_07
Well, we've exhausted the internet.

00:17:09 Speaker_04
That's my guest Selena Gomez with Martin Short and Steve Martin in the very popular Hulu series Only Murders in the Building. Selena, there's such a tenderness to your relationships with those guys. that seems like it's only grown over the seasons.

00:17:27 Speaker_04
I was watching, I think I saw you and Martin Short on a TV show recently, and you were showing him how to put on makeup from your rear beauty line, and it felt natural and connected, like you all are your friends.

00:17:40 Speaker_09
Yes, and it's an absolute joy. They'll joke and laugh and say, oh, we didn't know what to expect when we met Selena, but I don't know. By the first week of us working together, they really took me under their wing.

00:17:58 Speaker_09
They didn't make me feel separate because I was younger. They made me feel incredibly included. If they would change a joke or want to try something different, they would always incorporate me into the conversation. And they respected me.

00:18:14 Speaker_09
And I felt safe. These are gentlemen that want nothing from me but to have a great experience at work and create bonds with everybody on set. And they disarm people by their kindness.

00:18:32 Speaker_09
So yeah, I've done interviews or I've been upset on days of working if I got bad news and they're protective, they listen, they give great advice. That's something I'll cherish. It could have been totally different.

00:18:51 Speaker_09
have been hard to connect but they are genuinely wonderful people and it's just been a huge blessing because I get emotional thinking about it because I really do love them and they care about me a lot.

00:19:09 Speaker_04
AMT – Meryl Streep starred in season 3 and you mentioned how in awe you were those first days on the set. What did you learn working with her?

00:19:19 Speaker_09
Class act. Absolute class act. I always tell this story about her because I think it just sums who she is up really well.

00:19:30 Speaker_09
She was on set and because of course she's Meryl we wanted to shoot her out so that she would have a shorter day out of respect for her and her schedule.

00:19:41 Speaker_09
So we would shoot her scenes and then we could say okay you can go home and someone would replace her and they would do the other actors. She refused. She said no I'm staying for all the actors.

00:19:56 Speaker_09
And it was probably 13 hours that she was on that set and the camera wasn't on her once. And she was thrilled to be there. She was so communicative to everyone. She would walk around barefoot humming music, listening to folk music.

00:20:21 Speaker_09
She doesn't take herself too seriously. She read a comment about something that said that she was overrated and she laughed and she was, well, maybe they're right.

00:20:32 Speaker_09
You know like she just has a good sense of humor about the icon that she is and she doesn't look at herself that way and I like that.

00:20:43 Speaker_04
Our guest today is Selena Gomez. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Tanya Mosley and this is Fresh Air.

00:20:50 Speaker_06
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00:22:11 Speaker_04
This is Fresh Air, I'm Tanya Mosley, and today my guest is Selena Gomez.

00:22:15 Speaker_04
She stars in the new Spanish-language musical, Emilia Perez, as Jessie Del Monte, the wife of a cartel leader who secretly undergoes gender-affirming surgery to begin a new life as Emilia Perez.

00:22:28 Speaker_04
Selena Gomez is an actor, singer, and the founder of the successful cosmetic line Rare Beauty.

00:22:34 Speaker_04
She began acting in 2002 on the television series Barney and Friends, and she went on to star in several Disney shows before her breakout role in the series The Wizards of Waverly Place, playing the lead as Alex Russo.

00:22:49 Speaker_04
As a musician, she's had 16 consecutive top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest active run of any artist. And she's also founded the beauty line Rare Beauty and stars in the mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building,

00:23:03 Speaker_04
alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short. You're 32 years old, right? And you have so many firsts. And your first, not only I mentioned the Billboard 100, you also were one of the 10 highest paid children TV stars of all time.

00:23:24 Speaker_04
I don't even think I've read that one. Oh, that one's not on your list of like your firsts.

00:23:31 Speaker_04
But your role on the Disney show Wizards of Waverly, I got the sense from your 2022 documentary, My Mind and Me, that you have kind of a complicated relationship with your Disney years, that it made you feel like a product.

00:23:47 Speaker_04
In what ways did it feel like that?

00:23:50 Speaker_09
I think during the period I was shooting the documentary, the context of what I felt was unfair is that I don't regret or dislike Disney.

00:24:07 Speaker_09
I think Disney gave me my platform and I will forever owe them for that because I was able to do incredible things.

00:24:16 Speaker_09
doesn't mean that I wasn't frustrated with other people not willing to ask me more in-depth questions to just write me off because I was that. So my frustration is not necessarily ever been with Disney, it's just been with the idea that people

00:24:40 Speaker_09
would not take anything I was saying not seriously. If it was me talking about philanthropy, if it was me wanting to talk about something important, it was, do you like marshmallows? And, you know, so you were on Disney.

00:24:55 Speaker_09
And it's like, they just, it just felt so crippling. And I, at that point, when I shot the documentary, hadn't moved on into doing other things. So I just was a little frustrated.

00:25:08 Speaker_09
Now don't get me wrong I'm 32 and now I'm doing a reunion of Wizards of Waverly Place and I'm back and I'm proud and you know so it was never really that. It was just more people not talking to me.

00:25:28 Speaker_04
What do you think you might have been if you didn't go into acting?

00:25:33 Speaker_09
I'm not sure. Every time someone asks me that I get so perplexed because I was so young when I started. So I don't even know what I would have figured out what that looks like.

00:25:48 Speaker_09
I have an 11-year-old sister and I could not be more proud of the fact that she is like I don't know what I want to do yet, Sissy. And I'm like, OK, that's great. You don't have to know right now. You can explore.

00:26:02 Speaker_09
She's just adventurous and she's able to be a kid. And I love that. I admire that. For me, I'm not sure what I would have done. There wasn't many opportunities where I came from. I'm very proud of where I came from, but I'm not sure.

00:26:17 Speaker_09
I guess I'm really not sure what I would have done.

00:26:21 Speaker_04
Grand Prairie, Texas. How would you describe it?

00:26:25 Speaker_09
It's a very little, simple town. Like, they still have the same diner there that my uncle used to go to, and the park that I was able to walk to on my own. The neighborhood, I still know the neighbors that have lived there their whole life. I love it.

00:26:45 Speaker_09
It's just, for me, my mom wanted me to show me that there were more things in the world. And I'm really grateful for that.

00:26:56 Speaker_04
I had a chance to talk with Tyler James Williams a few months ago, another child actor who has gone on to do great things. And like you, he says he really couldn't imagine himself doing anything else in life from a very young age.

00:27:11 Speaker_04
He knew that was what he wanted. But he also talked about some of the dark sides of being a child actor. And he survived because of his parents, he says.

00:27:27 Speaker_04
He feels like though this is an industry that is not really for children, that it eats them up and spits them out.

00:27:34 Speaker_04
You have been able to have a successful career and he finds, I just want to say like, he said he thinks that anyone who has come out of it whole is a success, even if you're not in show business. I thought that's very nice.

00:27:48 Speaker_04
Yeah, I want to know how you feel about that because it seems that folks like Tyler have a complicated relationship with even the use of children in Hollywood.

00:27:58 Speaker_09
Yeah, I mean, I think my perspective goes both ways, you know. I think that there is a point in your life where you have to just You have to let yourself be a kid.

00:28:15 Speaker_09
And I think the dark sides that, you know, I would reflect on is the fact that I couldn't have a private life. I couldn't necessarily do things because I was held to a specific standard of like, you know, I'm a Disney kid and children look up to me.

00:28:36 Speaker_09
And all of that stuff was really difficult. I just, I don't want to necessarily I guess I'm just trying to think about this because I know that there are incredible actors that have come out of this whole industry.

00:28:57 Speaker_09
But I think you can say that about anything sometimes. I guess what I'd say is I am actually glad that my sister doesn't want to do that right now at least. I just think it is pretty dangerous. You're around adults, people say things, people

00:29:16 Speaker_09
you know, do things that maybe you just shouldn't be exposed to. And the moment I first started experiencing fame, it wasn't something that I thought was cool. It got really, you know, weird for me. It felt uncomfortable.

00:29:34 Speaker_09
I remember being 15 at the beach with my family, and it was one of the first times there were like five

00:29:42 Speaker_09
grown men taking photographs of me coming out of the water and I was sitting there and my stepdad got really upset because something seems extremely wrong with that underage. And so I just to me that's the stuff that I don't think is right.

00:30:01 Speaker_09
And I just it threw me off for a bit.

00:30:04 Speaker_04
But it sounds like your mother, your family protected you.

00:30:09 Speaker_09
They did. And here's the thing, my parents did the best with what they got and they were 16 and 15. And they did their best.

00:30:21 Speaker_09
And it wasn't always perfect, but they, especially my mom and my stepdad, specifically made sure that they held up these boundaries that sometimes I'd get mad at, but they were necessary. You know, for example,

00:30:40 Speaker_09
You're inviting kids to this beautiful premiere and they're walking the carpet and experiencing all this attention and that can be overwhelming.

00:30:51 Speaker_09
Then I have the after party and that's when kids can come and all the adults start drinking and all the stuff starts going on. At a very young age my mom said you're there to walk the carpet for your job but then you're going home.

00:31:06 Speaker_09
And I'd always say well they're going to stay and my other friend's going to stay. She said you're not old enough.

00:31:12 Speaker_09
When you're old enough you'll go to the parties and have all the fun but right now you're going home and you can invite a friend over and just watch a movie. And I do have to say she was very good at that stuff. And sorry I'll just add and in rooms.

00:31:32 Speaker_09
My mom never let me go into any room without her.

00:31:35 Speaker_04
You mean like an audition room or a room to practice or room to... Room for like meetings, room for anything.

00:31:42 Speaker_09
Not necessarily auditions but I did a lot on tape. But she was right by the door. My mom was very protective of me in the best possible way. And though maybe it didn't make much sense to me then, I could not be more grateful now.

00:32:04 Speaker_04
Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, my guest is Selena Gomez. She stars in the new movie, Amelia Perez. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is Fresh Air.

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00:32:34 Speaker_08
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00:32:47 Speaker_08
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00:33:01 Speaker_08
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00:33:11 Speaker_08
This message comes from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, recognizing extraordinarily creative individuals with a track record of excellence. More information on this year's MacArthur Fellows is at Macfound.org.

00:33:25 Speaker_04
This is Fresh Air, and today I am talking to Selena Gomez. She stars in the new musical film, Emilia Perez, as Jessie Del Monte, the wife of a cartel leader who secretly undergoes gender-affirming surgery to begin a new life as Emilia Perez.

00:33:42 Speaker_04
I'd like to talk with you just a moment about your journey to understanding your mental health. Can you talk to us about what that journey was like? Because you were also dealing with the lupus diagnosis.

00:33:56 Speaker_04
And so it's you growing into yourself as an adult, a lupus diagnosis, and then a bipolar diagnosis.

00:34:03 Speaker_09
Yeah. Well, they both actually didn't happen at the same time. I was about 16 or 17 maybe. I'm sorry, it's one of those three.

00:34:16 Speaker_09
When I found out that I had lupus and I had to do, I was in the ICU for a few weeks and then I had to undergo a slight chemotherapy for a while, a couple of months. And by the grace of whatever you believe, I was able to put it in remission.

00:34:36 Speaker_09
So I will always have lupus, but it is in remission, thankfully. But it wasn't necessarily that that fixed everything. It definitely fixed my health. I'm so grateful for doctors. I'm so grateful for people that can do things for us.

00:34:55 Speaker_09
So my body was feeling great. But I was still just so confused as to why I had all these things and I wasn't happy. I understood that I had circumstances that made me unhappy.

00:35:10 Speaker_09
But I knew deep down that I was feeling things intensely, way too high and way too low. And, you know, I've always been really open about it. And it didn't take me overnight to find out what it was.

00:35:25 Speaker_09
You know, you have to give yourself time to understand and work with people that maybe understand it more and get second opinions. And so I would say my diagnosis was actually a huge relief.

00:35:43 Speaker_09
I felt so much better because how I would, you know, go through these emotions were really painful. And when I figured out, you know, it wasn't like it solved everything, but I was able to navigate how to pursue my life, and I immediately felt relief.

00:36:04 Speaker_09
So I know people may think, oh, that's scary. That means she's crazy. To me, that gave me answers, and that knowledge gave me freedom, and then now I am being treated for all of it, and I feel

00:36:20 Speaker_09
completely level-headed, I feel happy when I need to, and of course I get emotional, and I'm really grateful I found my balance.

00:36:31 Speaker_04
There was a moment where you felt like you needed to stop for a moment in your career, where you needed to take a break to try to really figure out.

00:36:41 Speaker_04
Can you talk a little bit about those times when you knew you needed to seek help outside of yourself?

00:36:47 Speaker_04
I mean, I will just say from a personal experience, the thing that's so, I don't want to use the term insidious, but like about mental health is that like, you're the only one who's dealing with it and you're the only one who can help fix it, like by understanding that you need help.

00:37:04 Speaker_09
Yes. I think people have to get there on their own. Because I had people care about me and were concerned and would talk to me, but I didn't see anything. I would avoid it. I think denial and avoiding things is pretty natural for any human to feel.

00:37:29 Speaker_09
But I was just tired of feeling that way. And that's what made me seek the help that I wanted and needed. And not sure what it was going to look like. So yeah, it's very terrifying.

00:37:42 Speaker_09
But I just knew that everybody gets to their place where they really want to change because It's hard. It's hard to feel confused. It's hard to feel hurt. It's hard to feel any of these emotions.

00:37:59 Speaker_09
But at an intense level, it can be really scary and dangerous. So before anything happened, I was grateful that I said, all right, I'm going to go and I'm going to do the things that you know, will hopefully help me understand more.

00:38:17 Speaker_09
And that still took me four years. So even when I sought, you know, help and was able to, you know, meet different doctors and different people, it wasn't until four years of searching that I found my diagnosis and I was properly medicated and it felt

00:38:37 Speaker_09
so freeing. So that's why I always encourage people when they're going through a hard time to have such patience because it doesn't happen right away. It truly has to be something that you need to dance with for a bit.

00:38:54 Speaker_09
That's why in my documentary I end it by saying, you know, I'm not scared of my bipolar anymore. I'm just making it my friend.

00:39:03 Speaker_04
Selena Gomez, this has been such a pleasure to talk with you.

00:39:06 Speaker_09
It's been so nice.

00:39:08 Speaker_04
Selena Gomez stars in the new movie Amelia Perez. Coming up, rock critic Ken Tucker reviews some new country music. This is Fresh Air.

00:39:18 Speaker_08
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00:39:30 Speaker_01
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When would be the best time for me to trigger my social security? I have a spouse. They also have Social Security. Does it make a difference whose we trigger first? Could you review these insurance policies that I have?

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00:40:09 Speaker_06
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00:40:26 Speaker_04
Rock critic Ken Tucker has been listening to some recent country releases, and he hears some exciting blends of old and new sounds. Country veteran Dwight Yoakam has recorded a harmonious duet with Post Malone.

00:40:39 Speaker_04
Country superstar Maren Morris is stretching beyond country's borders. And Shawna Thompson, half of the duo Thompson Square, has chosen to look back to the roots of honky-tonk. Ken Tucker reviews them all.

00:40:52 Speaker_04
Here's Dwight Yoakam with a new song called A Dream That Never Ends.

00:40:56 Speaker_15
It's alright, it's okay if you leave me If you must go, know that I will understand But till then I will hope for a dream that never ends And if I awake, I'll close my eyes and just pretend

00:41:41 Speaker_00
Earlier this year, Post Malone put out his first country album, one in which he gave his hip-hop phrasing a twang that did not seem insincere in duets with a whole passel of country stars. One of those stars was not Dwight Yoakam.

00:41:56 Speaker_00
Malone's album, called F1 Trillion, was pleasant enough, but it didn't have a country song with the rhythmic groove that Yoakam has written for a duet on Dwight's new album, Brighter Days. It's a very adroit song with a very unwieldy title.

00:42:11 Speaker_00
I don't know how to say goodbye, bang, bang, boom, boom." And when Malone's raspy razor of a voice cuts across Yoakam's buttery croon, it achieves a different kind of country harmony.

00:42:39 Speaker_15
Bang, bang, boom, boom, there's nothing left here now but sadness. Bang, bang, boom, for many emptiness, for all that's gone. Bang, bang, boom, boom, no sounds but just sorrow now. is how a broken heart beats on. Come on.

00:43:15 Speaker_00
Yoakam's Brighter Days, his first album of new material in almost a decade, is a wonderful compendium of classic country styles. Another performer bringing a fresh gloss to old sounds is Shawna Thompson on her new album Lean on Neon.

00:43:32 Speaker_00
Thompson is best known as half of the country duo act Thompson Square, along with her husband Kiefer. Their music tends towards slick country pop.

00:43:41 Speaker_00
But Lean on Neon, her solo debut, takes a bracing plunge into the sort of honky-tonk music that was popular before she was born.

00:43:51 Speaker_00
On the title song, she drowns her sorrows beneath the neon glow of a bar with a different singing partner, the veteran songwriter Jim Lauderdale. And Shawna Thompson's Misery is our pleasure.

00:44:04 Speaker_02
A whiskey glass, a smoke-filled room, strangers that were hurting, too. Misery loves company. A little joint where you'd never be. What they don't ask ain't hard to see. Where a good girl goes to drown an old memory. I used to lean on me.

00:44:52 Speaker_02
I used to hold a cold one Those nights when I had no one When a jukebox is your only friend Back corner drops and a heart aches You want to know how I moved on I used to lean on me

00:45:30 Speaker_00
If Shawna Thompson wants to dive more deeply into country music, Maren Morris is at a stage in her career where she wants to sort of skate along the surface of it and spin off in a different direction.

00:45:41 Speaker_00
Morris is a big star who recently has expressed dissatisfaction, becoming vocal about what she terms toxic elements in the Nashville establishment.

00:45:51 Speaker_00
She has swaddled her angry disenchantment in an irresistible new rhythm for a song called People Still Show Up.

00:45:58 Speaker_11
Heroes might disappoint you, not everyone's gonna join you. Don't let the pain destroy you, just go where the arrow points you. Free flow, till you feel that rush, when people still shout out.

00:46:18 Speaker_10
Yeah, they're gonna try to say you really crossed the line, you should've shut your mouth and smoked, cause now you found a winner, said too much.

00:46:34 Speaker_00
The lyric of People Still Show Up carries the implication that while she may have been advised not to court controversy with her complaints, it won't affect her career as long as, you got it, people still show up, to buy her music, to come to her concerts.

00:46:49 Speaker_00
Unlike Dwight Yoakam and Shawna Thompson, Morris isn't reaching out to hardcore country fans. She's making her appeal to folks outside the genre. I hope that works out for her.

00:47:00 Speaker_04
Ken Tucker reviewed new music by Dwight Yoakam, Baron Morris, and Shawna Thompson.

00:47:26 Speaker_15
You can muscle up, shut off, strut and roll But that don't mean you got any place to go The key to that sweet thing ain't on your radar If you wanna think it is, buddy, go ahead and dream

00:47:52 Speaker_15
Cause you ain't the first and damn sure won't be the last I hold the pink slip title with her high heel on the gas She's got a wide open heart, tearin' up the road She took my old worn out lookin' plate and crumb

00:48:19 Speaker_15
From a red flag stop to a red blood rolling star, she's all mine to love with a wide open heart.

00:48:33 Speaker_04
Tomorrow on Fresh Air, Trump versus the media. He's called the media enemies of the people and threatened retribution, including jailing reporters, investigating NBC for treason, and suggesting CBS's broadcast license be taken away.

00:48:48 Speaker_04
We'll talk with David Rimnick, editor of The New Yorker, and Marty Barron, former editor of The Washington Post. I hope you'll join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR Fresh Air.

00:49:08 Speaker_04
Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer today is Teresa Madden. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer is Adam Staniszewski.

00:49:19 Speaker_04
Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Sam Brigger, Lauren Krenzel, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nakundi, and Anna Baumann. Our digital media producers are Molly C.V.

00:49:33 Speaker_04
Nesper and Sabrina Seawert. Roberta Shura directs the show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tanya Mosley.

00:49:41 Speaker_08
This message comes from NPR sponsor Merrill. Whatever your financial goals are, you want a straightforward path there. But the real world doesn't usually work that way. Merrill understands that.

00:49:51 Speaker_08
That's why, with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Go to ml.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk.

00:50:05 Speaker_08
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, registered broker dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC. This message comes from NPR sponsor Merrill. Whatever your financial goals are, you want a straightforward path there.

00:50:18 Speaker_08
But the real world doesn't usually work that way. Merrill understands that. That's why, with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Go to ml.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company.

00:50:32 Speaker_08
What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated, registered broker dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC.