Are The Lyrics Of Justin Bieber’s “Friends” Dedicated To Selena Gomez?
Justin Bieber released another new single with BloodPop. It’s named “Friends.” It’s a song about life after a breakup. Looking at the lyrics, there might be a couple of nods to both Selena Gomez and the type of relationship Bieber wishes to have with her.
Justin wrote the song with Warner/Chappell Music senior VP and co-head of A&R Katie Vinten, producer BloodPop, and Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter. They have written songs with Gomez previously. It’s possible that shared experience with Michaels and Tranter played into the themes in the songwriting.
Here are the lyrics, via Genius, with potential Gomez references noted:
Verse 1:
I was wonderin’ ’bout your mama
Did she get that job she wanted?
Mandy Teefey, Selena’s mother, and Justin’s manager set up a first meeting between the two-way back in 2009. Therefore, Bieber has known Teefey from the very beginning. Teefey is no longer Gomez’s manager. However, they worked together on 13 Reasons Why—a project they spent so much time developing before Netflix took it.
So that car that gave her problems
I’m just curious about her, honest
Pre-Chorus:
Girl, you wonderin’ why I’ve been callin’?
Like I’ve got ulterior motives
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Ever since Selena and Bieber broke up they have been on-off talking to each other. Bieber confessed that he treats Selena as his “home”.
“[We don’t talk] every day, but every now and then she hits up my phone. Well, I hit hers too.” Just a month after their big Instagram fallout, an insider shared to Us Weekly that Selena had changed her number and told people not to give it to him.
Not long ago, Selena complimented Bieber on a radio interview. Moreover, she confessed that she changes her phone numbers a lot. Having in mind this, it is unclear if Justin has her current one.
No, we didn’t end this so good
Gomez and Bieber came to a public end for good last August. The two argued in Bieber’s Instagram comments about his flaunting his relationship with Sofia Richie. After that, the fans began criticizing Richie. “If you can’t handle the hate, then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol,” Gomez wrote. “It should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you.”
Bieber answered, “It’s funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love.” Gomez posted on Snapchat the next morning that she regretted her remarks.
But you know we had something so good
After Bieber and Gomez broke up, he posted a few snaps of them. He wrote a description on one of them kissing, “feels.” She liked the photo and commented “perfect.” For a while, that interchange became Instagram’s most liked photo.
@justinbieber post this pict in ig and then @selenagomez like and comment this pict “perfect” ??Crazy throwback ? pic.twitter.com/HiC0WpPiiL
— Rahayu (@arahaayuu) March 20, 2016
Chorus:
So I’m wondering, can we still be friends? (oh-oh)
Can we still be friends? (oh-oh)
Doesn’t have to end
And if it ends, can we be friends?
Now the ex-couple are just friends and they haven’t been noticed together for a long time. Justin expressed that he is not a fan of her relationship with Abel Tesfaye, The Weeknd.
However, both of them explained that they will always care about each other. Bieber told Access Hollywood in November 2015 that Gomez “is someone I love dearly. I’m never going to stop loving her. I’m never going to stop checking in on her. I don’t think if you end a relationship, you should end that unless it was super toxic and you guys were hurting each other physically or mentally.”
Gomez shared to W in February 2016, “I care about his health and well-being.” So there’s always potential.
Post-Chorus:
Can we be friends?
Can we be friends?
Can we be friends?
Verse 2:
Wonderin’ if you got a body
To hold you tight since I left
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The “Baby” singer made three remarks about The Weeknd after he and Selena got together. TMZ first reported he considered Gomez to be using The Weeknd for publicity; Bieber later called The Weeknd’s music “whack” to paparazzi, and then he trolled Tesfaye on his Instagram story.
The Weeknd gave a response to this remarks in his Nav collaboration “Some Way” in February. “Oh yeah, yeah, I just hit a lick and I know you feelin’ some way/(Nah, Nah Nah Nah, Nah Nah Nah)/I just took that chick, and I know you feelin’ some way, oh yeah/She just wants an n–a like me, you feelin’ some way, way, way, yeah.”
Wonderin’ if you think about me
Actually, don’t answer that
Selena has shown what she thinks about Bieber this year: She liked and then unliked a Jelena shot in February:
During a recent interview in June, Selena complimented Bieber, praising his Manchester benefit concert performance. “I thought Justin did great. It was really beautiful,” she said.
very..very SPICY [She Unliked] -02/07/17
Pre-Chorus:
Now you wonderin’ why I’ve been callin’?
Like I’ve got ulterior motives
No, we didn’t end this so good
But you know we had something so good
Chorus:
So I’m wondering, can we still be friends? (oh-oh)
Can we still be friends? (oh-oh)
Doesn’t have to end
And if it ends, can we be friends?
Can we be friends?
Can we be friends?
And if it ends, can we be friends?
Pre-Chorus:
Now you wonderin’ why I’ve been callin’?
Like I’ve got ulterior motives
No, we didn’t end this so good
But you know we had something so good
Chorus:
I’m wondering, can we still be friends? (oh-oh)
Can we still be friends? (oh-oh)
Doesn’t have to end
And if it ends, can we be friends?