# I Said I Love You First

I Said I Love You First is an upcoming collaborative studio album by American singer Selena Gomez and American record producer Benny Blanco. This is Gomez's fourth studio album, and Blanco's second. It is set for release on March 21, 2025, through SMG Music, Friends Keep Secrets, and Interscope Records. The album contains guest appearances from Gracie Abrams, Tainy and J Balvin. It will be the last album under Friends Keep Secrets, Blanco's label, which was closed down five months earlier.

## Background

The first time Gomez and Blanco collaborate in the studio is for the singer’s second solo studio album, Revival. For the album, Blanco has production credits on the singles “Kill Em with Kindness” and “Same Old Love”. The pair then returned to the studio to recorded collaborative single “I Can't Get Enough” with Tainy and J Balvin, which was released in February 2019. Later, Blanco also participated in the creation of Gomez’s standalone single “Single Soon”, which was released in August 2023.
In December 2023, Gomez officially confirmed her relationship with Blanco, and in December 2024, the couple officially announced their engagement. In January 2024, Gomez stated that she prefers acting over music, and only has "one more album in [her]". She revealed that she "never really intended on being a singer full-time" but "that hobby" evolved into a career when she was working with Disney.
In the fall of 2024, during the press release of the her movie Emilia Pérez, Gomez talked a lot about her music career in various interviews, so in October she admitted that she has no date in mind for her next album’s release for Variety: “I currently don’t have anything, but I will say music is going to always be a part of me”, “So I don’t think any movements are happening right now, but it will always be in my life.” While talking with Saoirse Ronan for Variety’s Actors on Actors discussion in December, Gomez said, “I don’t see that [doing music] being a forever thing. I’ll always have music in my life because my partner’s a musician, and I love having moments to do it for fun. It can be a little vulnerable when you’re putting yourself out there versus escaping into a character.” She compared her talent for acting versus making music later, telling Ronan, “I definitely think my strong suit is probably acting. But one thing I’m proud of in music is being able to tell a story—my favorite songs are mostly ballads, and they’re very transparent and honest. But I think I might be a little too old for the pop-star life. I’m genuinely so happy to just be in this new era of my life, because in a lot of ways, it’s just the beginning.”
In a career-spanning cover story for The Hollywood Reporter she shared her future plans in terms of acting and music after a banner year in film and beauty: “I think I’ve done just as much as I wanted to do in music, but it’s exciting because I feel like I haven’t even started in film and TV”, despite her statements promised about “almost done” with her pop star career, she said “Music isn’t going away,” and “I just set it down for a second.”
January 17, 2025 Balnco shared a short clip on TikTok responding to a fan who whote him, "Benny please make some new songs for our queen." The clip showed Gomez recording music in her home studio. Then on January 23, 2025, Gomez shared a video on her social media while working on new music in her home recording studio. After a number of speculations, on February 14, Gomez announced the released of the album on March 21 and released a surprise promotion single "Scared of Loving You" on Valentine's Day.

## Composition and release

Selena Gomez announced her engagement to Benny Blanco on December 11, 2024. Two months later, she revealed they worked on a collaborative studio album, writing in an Instagram post: "my NEW album I Said I Love You First with my best friend @itsbennyblanco, is out on 3/21". According to a press release, the album will celebrate "the pair's love story" and "chronicles their entire story — before they met, falling in love and looking to what the future holds".

## Singles

On February 13, 2025, "Scared of Loving You" was surprised released for Valentine's Day and was released as the album's first promotional single, alongside an official lyric video. It is an upbeat ballad written with Finneas O'Connell. The lead single "Call Me When You Break Up" was released the following week on February 20, 2025. The song is a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams. "Sunset Blvd" was released as the second promotional single on March 14, 2025. A song titled "Younger and Hotter Than Me" was referred to as a future single in Interview magazine.

## Track listing
### Notes

* signifies a vocal producer
* "Call Me When You Break Up" does not include Gracie Abrams on physical releases.