Selena Gomez Says 'It Will Be Very Hard for Me to Ever Go Back to Music' After “Emilia Pérez” Experience

After making Emilia Pérez, Selena Gomez has her sights set on acting.

Gomez, 32, shared during a moderated conversation with Dave Karger at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in Santa Barbara, California on Sunday, Feb. 9 that she is "ready to just focus on" acting for films and television after her experience starring in the Jacques Audiard-directed movie musical that has turned into a major awards season hit.

"I think film and art-making and being around such incredible, talented people that have done nothing but uplift me along the way... I don't know," Gomez shared. "It's going to be very hard for me to ever go back to music after this."

Gomez appeared in a movie for the first time since her voice role in 2022's Hotel Transylvania 4 with Emilia Pérez, a French-produced, Spanish-language musical in which she costars with Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón. While the film's awards campaign has been marred with controversy over Gascón's old social media posts in recent weeks, Saldaña, 46, has won awards for her performance at the Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards. The Netflix film also received 13 Academy Award nominations, most among all films nominated at this year's Oscars.

"The director just really trusted me and I was so grateful because I've gotten to show people that I am capable of doing more. I hope that this is just the beginning for me," Gomez added of her work in the movie.

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While Gomez — who most recently released music with the 2024 single "Love On" — admitted that "some of the magic has disappeared" from her memories of Emilia Pérez due to the controversies surrounding her costar Gascón, she described filming the movie as "actually very cathartic."

The actress also shared she has only sat through the movie once, when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, where it won Cannes' best actress prize.

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"I watched in Cannes and then I started to watch it with my family and I got nervous and you know because my grandparents were seeing me say some stuff, and I was like, 'Okay,' " Gomez said. She also noted that her grandparents continue to "casually throw [the movie] on in the background."

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"But it was beautiful. I get very weird watching stuff sometimes, but I couldn't have been more proud," she added.

Gomez is nominated alongside the rest of Emilia Pérez's cast for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture at the SAG Awards, which will be broadcast on Netflix Sunday, Feb. 23.

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