Selena Gomez is continuing the hard launch of her relationship with record producer and former collaborator Benny Blanco, after penning a sweet birthday tribute to her boyfriend.
'Happy birthday baby!' Gomez’s caption read as she celebrated Blanco’s 36th birthday. 'Your emotional endurance, positive disposition, unbelievable talent (that blows me away), undeniable humor and loving, kind heart absolutely kill me. I love you.'
Her birthday tribute comes after Gomez said on the New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 in February 2024 that her new single 'Love On' was inspired by her newest partner, who makes her feel 'safe'.
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'Without getting into too much detail, I think it's just really important to meet someone that respects you,' the artist explained. 'And I think it's really nice to also lean on someone who understands the world that I live in. But I'd have to say overall it's the safest that I feel and it's been really lovely and I've only grown through it, so it's awesome.'
Speaking to Lowe about selective she is with her collaborators, Gomez admitted that she doesn’t 'feel very safe in a lot of rooms.'
'But I find that when I work with new people, it's actually really fun to connect on what they're walking through in life,' she said.
In a new interview from March 5 with Rolling Stone, Gomez further expanded on how settled she's feeling in her life with Blanco. 'Part of me feels like I'm finally at a good place with everything in my life,' she told the publication, noting that 'Love On' reflects the 'joy and curiosity' she is experiencing at the moment.
The Rare Beauty founder hasn't shied away from showing off her new beau to her fans either. She shared another clutch of images of her and Blanco to her Instagram in early February 2024, referring to him as her 'bes fwend.'
Gomez finally confirmed in December that she had been dating Blanco, who she collaborated on her 2019 single 'I Can't Get Enough' with, for six months.
Taking to Instagram to comment on a post captioned ‘Selena Gomez Is Rumoured to Be Dating Producer Benny Blanco’, Gomez wrote ‘Facts,’ before proceeding to defend Blanco in the comment section of the post on Instagram.
To somebody who commented on how ‘unhandsome’ Blanco is, Gomez responded by saying that she felt bad for the person commenting. She appeared to write to one fan, ‘He has treated me better than any human being on this planet.’ In another, she shared: ‘He’s still better than anyone I’ve ever been with. Facts.’
The 'Can’t Keep My Hands To Myself' singer, who has previously dated Justin Bieber and Zayn Malik, later posted an Instagram story of her cuddling up with a man and another of a ‘B’ diamond ring on her wedding finger.
In December 2023, a source told Entertainment Tonight, that the pair had become committed 'recently.'
'Selena and Benny have been casually seeing each other for a while, and more recently, it became more official. Things have been going really well between them, and Selena is happy,' the source said. 'She thinks Benny is very funny and, of course, extremely talented. Selena is in a great place in her life and feels content and relaxed. She is enjoying where things are going.'
Blanco became friends with Gomez’s ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber in 2009, a year before Bieber and Gomez started dating for the first time. He's collaborated with Bieber and Gomez's other ex-boyfriend The Weeknd, and has also worked with Gomez, too. He produced her 2015 songs 'Same Old Love' and 'Kill 'Em With Kindess' and her latest single, 'Single Soon', which she released in August 2023.
In October 2023, Blanco attended Gomez's firsts Rare Beauty’s Rare Impact Fund Benefit in Los Angeles, before a source told Entertainment Tonight in November 2023 that Gomez is single. 'Selena is casually dating and doing well,' the source said. 'She is doing her own thing and doesn’t feel any sort of pressure to be in a relationship. She is just focusing on what’s best for her right now and has been very in tune with maintaining her own boundaries. Her friends and family support her and just want her to be happy.'
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Naomi May is a freelance writer and editor with an emphasis on popular culture, lifestyle and politics. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard as its Fashion and Beauty Writer, working across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Acting News Editor at ELLE UK and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others.
