Selena Gomez Reveals Disney Almost Gave Her Hit Song “Who Says” to Another Artist

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Selena Gomez singing her empowering 2011 hit “Who Says,” but it turns out that the song almost went to someone else. At Twilio’s SIGNAL conference on Aug. 23, per Elle, Gomez revealed that she had to fight to be able to record the track.

“It’s actually a funny story: I was working with Disney at the time, and they were actually giving the song to another artist,” Gomez said. “And I cried — I remember, I was with my mom — because I loved the song so much. I basically said to my label, ‘I feel like my fans are young and they need it.’ That’s all I kept saying because I was 16 at the time. I was like, ‘I think my fans really need it; tell [them] my fans really need the song.’ And so maybe it just didn’t work out with the other artist, but that [getting “Who Says”] was a gift to me that I did not know I needed.”

She went on to discuss how the song has impacted her over the years. “I love, love that song, and it has carried with me through my whole career, and I fought for it,” she continued. “So to be honest, I, to this day, need to hear it. Not by me. Like I don’t want to hear myself sing it. I’m just saying, the message it will last and last because it’s the truth. It’s such a special song.”

Of course, Gomez has released many other hit songs over the years, and she’s now gearing up to release music once again. Her next single, “Single Soon,” will drop on Aug. 25, and that news sparked speculation about more music that could potentially be on the way. Gomez is also currently starring in season three of “Only Murders in the Building” on Hulu.

Watch the “Who Says” video below.