Selena Gomez Took A 4 Year Break Between Albums For This One Reason

The process of writing and producing an album is a long and emotional one — and when you've been through everything that Selena Gomez has gone through in the past four years, it's even more intense. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Selena Gomez revealed her new album took four years to perfect, saying it took a long time for her to feel that the album was "at a good place," but that the upcoming record is finally complete.

The singer — who hasn't released an album since 2015's Revival — opened up about the difficult process of working on her sixth studio album while chatting with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, June 11. "I have to do, like, a few finishing things with it, but I'm just relieved," Gomez said, after revealing that the album is almost ready to be released. "It took me four years now to even feel at a good place with this album, and it's just because I had such huge moments that happened in my life personally that [it was like] how was I going to capture that and how was I actually going to feel good about what I was saying? So, I kept going and I'm relieved now."

While Gomez didn't drop any hints about when, exactly, fans can expect to hear new music from her, The Dead Don't Die star teased that she's been exploring a slightly different sound on her upcoming release. "There's always gonna be a sense of strong pop in my music," Gomez explained, "but I definitely explored more with electric guitar, a lot of more soulful tracks underneath things ... it all kind of hits different places that I feel like is my lane for music. It just lives in that world."

The singer also seemed to tease that fans can expect the next album to feature plenty of emotional ballads, as Gomez told Fallon that those are her favorite songs to perform to fans. "I love everything that I get to do and be a part of," she said, "but specifically, something that connects with people on an emotional level is my favorite."

Despite her excitement to reconnect with all her fans through her songwriting and performances, Gomez admitted back in March that she was "nervous" about releasing her next album. "I'm just nervous about it, honestly, because I feel like the next few choices that I'm gonna make are very crucial. So, I'm trying to be really, really diligent and just patient with everything," she told E! News at the time.

A few months later, she told fans that her upcoming music would be "very honest but playful," during an Instagram Live, as reported by W Magazine, before adding that the songs will address a lot of Gomez's mental health struggles. "I don’t know what people are going to think," she said, before later explaining that the album will feature lots of collaborations and focus on "what was going on in here, which is a lot," gesturing to her head.

Gomez hasn't officially announced a release date for her new music. So, while it might be some time before fans finally get to hear the new music that Gomez has worked so hard on, from everything that the singer has said recently, it promises to be the most honest and vulnerable record she has released yet. In other words, it should definitely be worth the four year wait.