Selena Gomez is going back to her Wizards of Waverly Place roots. In the witchy music video for her new single, “Boyfriend,” Gomez isn’t just looking for the one: she’s using a little dark magic to weed out everyone else.
“I want a boyfriend / Tell me, are there any good ones left?” Gomez sings as she goes from bad date to bad date. Eventually, she takes matters into her own hands. Using a glowing purple potion, she turns her potential suitors into frogs. Her men magically grow long tongues, webbed fingers, and scaly green skin, all while Gomez smiles and laughs. In the end, she’s still single, but she does have a new collection of pets.
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Gomez dropped the video on Friday, just a day after releasing the deluxe version of her latest album, Rare. “Boyfriend” is one of three new songs that appear on the record.
The inspiration for the song came from a text message Gomez sent to musician Julia Michaels, one of the single’s songwriters. On a Thursday episode of Apple Music’s New Music Daily with Zane Lowe, Michaels asked Gomez if there was anything she felt like she hadn’t covered on the album. “I was like, I don't know. Life's good. I want a boyfriend. That's about it,” Gomez recalled. “And I come in the studio and that's literally the title.”
In some of the other songs on Rare, Gomez touched on her very public breakup with Justin Bieber, her former relationship with The Weeknd, and the importance of self-love. In contrast, “Boyfriend” is a little more light-hearted — although, as her other collaborator Justin Tranter pointed out, the song makes a very crucial distinction between “wanting” and “needing” a significant other. As much as Gomez may want a boyfriend, she’s still sticking to her motto from her album’s title track: that there’s someone out there to make her feel special. And it likely won’t be one of those amphibians.
Watch the music video for “Boyfriend” below.