Selena Gomez Says Most of Her Relationships Have Been 'Cursed': 'I Felt So Less Than'

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Selena Gomez's love life has been the subject of some fascination for her many fans.

The Rare artist, 28, recently got real about her relationship history in a candid interview with Vogue Australia. "I think most of my experiences in relationships have been cursed. I've been way too young to be exposed to certain things when I was in relationships," she said, while explaining the title of her 2020 album and her Rare Beauty cosmetics line.

"I guess I needed to find what was that word for me, because I felt so less than in past relationships, and never really felt equal," Gomez continued. "And so that word to me - when I first heard it [used in the single Rare] with Nolan [Lambroza], one of the writers, I just said this is what I want to feel about myself. So it wasn't even necessarily like: 'Oh, I feel that way, let me sing it.' It was almost like: 'Actually, I need to feel that way about myself.'"

She dropped Rare in 2020, her first album in five years, and fans immediately started speculating about whether some of the tracks were about her ex Justin Bieber, 27, after their on-and-off relationship from 2010 to 2018, or the Weeknd, 31, whom she briefly dated in 2017. She's also been linked to Nick Jonas, 28, and Zedd, 31, in the past.

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Gomez jokingly said in September that all her exes think she's "crazy," during a YouTube video with NikkieTutorials. "It's hard in quarantine. This is also not an invitation," she said of her dating life.

"It's just funny, because I release things that say 'I want a boyfriend' and stuff, and people say that, and I'm like 'No, I didn't mean that,'" Gomez added. "Guys are a lot of work. Every one of my exes think I'm crazy, so I don't care."

The Disney Channel alum has since said that she's focusing on her mental health, as she was named one of PEOPLE's 2020 People of the Year. "I'm a work in progress. There's still so much that I'm figuring out," she said in December. "It's okay to be frustrated or have a hard day."

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"I'm at the point where I'm starting to care less about what others think and more about what I feel," Gomez continued. "I also don't read comments or [Google myself]. People think I'm lying but I find my life to be easier that way. Life is much bigger than some little comment."