Entertainment

7 Times "The Heart Wants" Was All About Jelena

by Kadeen Griffiths

Thursday morning, Selena Gomez took the Internet by storm with the release of her music video for "The Heart Wants What It Wants", an emotional pop song that totally isn't about Justin Bieber. Except, let's be real, it totally is about Justin Bieber. The song describes an on-off relationship that the singer can't extract herself from and if that doesn't describe Jelena to a T then we must not have been reluctantly following the same trainwreck. The fact of the matter is, at this point, the only people who ship Jelena are Jelena themselves — and even they don't want to be together half the time. But if you're still not convinced that "The Heart Wants What It Wants" is about the Biebs, then let me prove it to you.

When it comes to deriving the subject and inspiration of a song, there are many factors to consider. There are the actual lyrics of the song itself and then there is the music video that accompanied the song, if it's not one of those vague and artistic videos that have absolutely nothing to do with the song playing during it. ("Break Free" by Ariana Grande featuring Zedd, anyone?) When it comes to "The Heart Wants What It Wants", which released the video and song as one, there are more signs that point in Bieber's direction than there are signs that point anywhere else.

1. The opening monologue to him

From the moment Gomez says, "I know his heart, and I know what he wouldn’t do to hurt me," we were all immediately clued into the fact that the person she was talking about here was Bieber. After all, let's not forget the series of cryptic, melancholy Instagram posts Gomez became known for around the same time Bieber was running around taking all those intimate selfies with models.

2. The time she wouldn't listen to advice about him

The bridge of the song may as well just be JELENA JELENA JELENA because that's all I heard. Gomez sings, "Save your advice 'cause I won't hear. You might be right but I don't care. There's a million reasons why I should give you up, but the heart wants what it wants." Remember that rumor that Taylor Swift and Gomez had ended their friendship because Gomez was ignoring the pop star's advice about leaving Bieber? Could these lyrics perhaps have been a hint toward that?

3. The time he hugged her from behind

Do I even need to point to the countless Instagram photos of Bieber and Gomez holding each other from behind? It seems to be their absolute favorite position for Instagram selfies, whether those selfies later get deleted or not. I can't say that I blame them. It's an incredibly romantic kind of hug and basically the fastest way to say, "This, here, is my whole world." Or something.

4. The time he was with other girls

The fact that this scene immediately cut to a shot of Gomez by herself crying was also incredibly telling. The whole reason the world spent so much time being confused about whether or not Gomez and Bieber were dating was because every time they hung out somewhere together, Bieber would follow it up by hanging out with one, or more, models in various states of undress. This reoccurring Jelena issue was definitely getting a nod in this video.

5. That time they were in a house

Bieber posted an Instagram video of himself and Gomez cooking together at what I could only assume was his house — though we didn't get a very good look at her. Sure, this particular house also appears to have a private bar, but it's not like it's out of the realm of imagination that Bieber would have one in his house. It could also be a nod to the sheer amount of parties the two are often rumored to be attending together.

6. That time they were in a car

This would be a pretty weird thing to reference in this way, but this is my analysis and I'll read into whatever I want. At one point in the music video, Gomez and her mystery man are making out in a car. In September 2014, Bieber got into an accident with a car in Canada that resulted in him being arrested for assault, but news quickly got out that Gomez was with him at the time of the accident. Although they were on an ATV at the time, this could be what Gomez wishes they had been doing instead of what actually happened. Not to mention it's another one of the million reasons she should give him up.

7. That time he took a shirtless selfie

Who is the king of shirtless selfies? All right, if you said James Franco, then that is fair enough. I also would have accepted Miley Cyrus. However, we all know that Bieber loves his abs so much that he feels the need to share them with us as often as possible by outlawing shirts, so it comes as no surprise to me that there would be a shot in "The Heart Wants What It Wants" of her mystery man shirtless and in bed. Because the whole song and video is just about the Biebs.

Watch the video again below.

Image: YouTube