Selena Gomez shows the way with glitzy/slinky looks in the music video of her new cheerful dance track

Selena Gomez’s latest Single Soon is—likely for many women—an empowering anthem of going un-attached. It’s dance-floor-ready with a hummable chorus that will stick around among the happy-to-be-single sisterhood (exemplified by Ms Gomez and her BFFs in the accompanying music video), as they embrace the enjoyable and entertaining state/choice of no emotional entanglement. At the start of the MV, we are privy to the American singer listening to a message a gal-pal left on her voice mail: “Never worry about boyfriends—at all.” She is seen writing a note on what looks like a Post-It, which she then drops without hesitation on what a coffee table. Probably for the guy she’s dumping, it reads: “I’m sorry, I can’t, don’t hate me”, which seems to be referencing Sex and the City, in which one of Carrie Bradshaw’s short-term boyfriends left her an identically-worded breakup message on the same media. In the mean time, Ms Gomez is preparing to go out. The woman is emancipated, and she sings with palpable relish, “I’m pickin’ out this dress/Tryin’ on these shoes/’Cause I’ll be single soon”.

The dress she has selected is a pink (who isn’t, now that Barbara Millicent Roberts—or Barbie, for short, aka Margot Robbie—is the fashion role model?) cowl-necked slip in metal mesh, with very low armholes (so as to show an also-pink bra), ragged slits, and a fringed hemline by the London-based Swedish designer Fannie Schiavoni (similar styles are available at Luisaviaroma for about S$3,300), favoured by Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez. You get the picture. The shoes she tries on are (also) pink platforms with clunky heels by Versace. It is not clear if this is her final choice since we do not get to see clearly what she has on while dancing the night away. Ms Gomez’s glitzy and skimpy fashion choices received favourable fan reaction. It is not hard to see that she is not only singing about getting over the romantic split that she initiated quickly, but she is also epitomising the look to adopt when a girl is free from the shackles of love. And the mark of that release—and relief—is to don the slinky and the sexy.

In Fannie Schiavoni

In a top by The Andamane

These days, women, of course, do not not dress sexily to entice men (even when Ms Gomez did sing: “Time to find another/Blame it all on feelin’ young”). Guys have no part in women’s expressions of sexual confidence. Sexiness is for girls; for the mutual admiration among the clique. It is a “personal choice”, as is the mantra these days. And that choice is extended to the home wear too. Before going out, she wore a glitzy, sleeveless top by the Italian label The Andamane, favoured, unsurprisingly, by her fellow pop stars, such as Rita Ora. Ms Gomez paired the blouse with a denim cut-offs, secured with a jarring black belt with gold hardware and micro-studs—a sum that is classic valley girl with a penchant for mall brands. Although she picked from different labels, the two garments looks aesthetically similar, as if produced by the same factory. Does liberating oneself from amorous commitments means one is free from the restrictions of modesty or sartorial finesse? Or, is the no-line drawn between home attire and party clothes indication that Ms Gomez has adopted the meretricious, regardless of her relationship status?

Selena Gomez told Vanity Fair last February, “The music I’m doing right now is about real things that I’m walking through.” Do “real things” include the content of her wardrobe, whether worn on MVs or not? “It’s really powerful, strong, very pop,” she continued. “The theme generally is freedom—freedom from relationships, freedom from the darkness”. And, freedom from the abhorrently prim or the dreadfully unshowy? Single Soon, her first new song in nearly a year, is, she wrote on Instagram, “about being comfortable in your own skin and loving your own company”, so much so that she needed to quickly leave her boyfriend (once he is no longer occupying his side of the bed, her BFFs sleep over!) because, as she sang, “the weekend’s almost here”. And that dress and those shoes that she has chosen—they are waiting.

Screen shots: Selena Gomez/YouTube