I Said I Love You First is Selena Gomez’s fourth album and was written and produced with her husband Benny Blanco. Benny Blanco has released two albums before his album with Selena and this is his longest work to date. I Said I Love You First was released March 28th and has 16 songs, including the two bonus tracks, lasting 41 minutes. It is a mix of softer sounding songs with piano and acoustic guitar and other songs that lean more into the electronic pop genre.
The first song which is the title track “I Said I Love You First” is a 43 second recording clip of Selena speaking to her team and thanking them for all they have done for her to help her get to this point in her career.
The next song in the album is where the music really starts, “Younger And Hotter Than Me.” This song is a piano ballad that talks about an unrequited relationship that Selena felt was leading her on. The song also takes a dig at her past lover, describing the girls that he was getting with after their break up were only increasingly younger. In the chorus she says, “But I hate myself more for thinking you were different, wish I never loved you. We’re not getting any younger, but you’re girlfriends seem to.” She describes how she regrets dating this guy who she thought was more respectful and mature than the others, but after their breakup she started to realize his true nature and think that maybe he never truly loved her.
The third song “Call Me When You Break Up” is featuring the up and coming pop star Gracie Abrams and is one of the leading singles of the album. The song is reminiscing on a past lover, asking them to call her when he ends things with his new relationship, and wondering if she could get another chance. “Call me when you break up and maybe for a time I could have the space they take up and make you forget what their name was.” Selena describes how she wants to be the one he calls when they end and offering herself up as a rebound even if it means she only gets to be with him for a short period of time again.
Nearing the end of the song Selena and Gracie both sing “Unless you found the person you want a new name from, I’d like to be there when that day comes. You know I’m always here so don’t be a stranger.” Even if the guy ends up finding the person he wants to marry, she still cares about him and wants to be someone he can lean on and count on for support.
The fifth song on the album is “Don’t Wanna Cry” and it describes Selenas feelings after finally leaving a guy that she knows she should have left a long time ago with all the things he’s put her through. “I don’t wanna cry now, there’s nothing to say, it’s not gonna change.” The reference to the title of the song explains that she doesn’t want to cry over this situation anymore because there’s nothing she can do to change the past. Everything has already been done and run its course. She’s accepted her decision to leave because this is clearly not the best situation for her.
The song “Bluest Flame” is notable for its shift in instrumentals. This song is very electronic compared to the rest of the album and almost resembles sounds from Charlie xcx’s newest popular album BRAT.
In “How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten” Selena describes interactions that she had with a past lover which left her feeling almost embarrassed for the person. The past lover would act friendly to her, as if nothing had happened between the two of them, which she views as odd. Selena has long since moved past this ex lover while he is still clearly affected by it from his efforts to talk to her like they are friends. “I hope one day you heal, how does it feel to be forgotten?” Selena most likely feels a sense of smugness from this, like it is a form of revenge for what he has done to her in their past.
“You Said You Were Sorry” is from the point where Selena is now in a new and happy relationship, “Oh this is love, now I get why people like it,” and no longer thinks about her past lover, but she describes a dream she had where he apologizes. It’s clear that Selena never got a proper apology from the man in her real life, but just the dream apology was enough closure for her where they finally both agreed and could move on “But I had a dream, you said you were sorry, said you were sorry … I had a dream, that’s all it was, that was enough for me.”
In the thirteenth track, “Don’t Take It Personally,” the song takes on a whole new perspective, not from Selena, but from the point of view of someone who has either intentionally or unintentionally caused a lot of chaos and hardships in her life. In the chorus the woman tries to offer some sympathy, but it ends up coming off as a little sarcastic and uncaring. She tries to tell Selena not to take it personally, that their relationship was meant to be and hers wasn’t. “Please don’t take it personally, some things are just meant to be. Don’t waste all your energy, we both know that he loves me.” Even in the second verse the woman admits her own insecurities about Selena and the attention she got, “You’re so beautiful, it’s still hard for me to swallow. I used to get so jealous, I would stress eat, drown my sorrows in a bottle of Vodka,” but by the end is once again asserting her place in the relationship now and not Selenas.
In the last track off the album, “Scared Of Loving You,” Selena talks about her security in her relationship now with Blanco, which brings the whole album together since he helped her create all of it. She describes how she’s no longer afraid of things she used to be because she knows no matter what, she has his love. She believes that he won’t find anybody new because she knows that no one could love him as much as she does “I’m not scared of anyone or dying young or if you’re gonna find somebody new, cause how could they love you as much as I do?’
