Why Britney Spears Fans Think Her New Song Is Shading Selena Gomez

Fans of pop star Britney Spears believe that she might be throwing shade at Selena Gomez with the announcement of new music.

The "Toxic" singer revealed that she was working on a new single shortly after she released her tell-all memoir, "The Woman In Me," on Tuesday, October 24, 2023.

On Sunday morning, the Princess of Pop took to Instagram to tease some new music. “I wrote a new song !!! Hate you to like me !!! No beef with anyone … just being a narcissist in a claimed, self-entitled way !!! It’s to accumulate interest by giving ego with my eyes closed because I hear important people do that these days,” she wrote in the caption.

Given the wording of the post, fans believe that her hit song is called “Hate You To Like Me” which has a similar title to Selena Gomez’s hit song “Lose You To Love Me.”

When one user suggested that Britney is "trolling" fans with the announcement of a new song, another netizen chimed in, "No I think she’s trolling the people who are haters. Meaning people have to hate on Britney to like themselves. But of course it could mean different things depending on one perceived it. As some are saying it’s shade toward Selena due to the similar titled song."

However, Britney Spears has talked positively about Justin Bieber and even danced to a few of his songs in her Instagram videos. This has only fueled speculation that Britney has beef with Selena in order to talk so positively about her ex. "The way Britney stopped following Selena and since then she has not stopped showing support and admiration for Justin from left to right the queen knows who the villain of the story is," one user alleged.

In October 2022, Britney was accused of shading Selena Gomez by making a reference to her 2016 speech, in which she told girls that she “didn’t want to see [their] bodies” on Instagram.

Britney seemed to reference Selena’s 2020 “Ice Cream” music video with Blackpink in an Instagram post at the time, writing:

“Don’t you just love the nerve of women who stand firmly getting awards and speak on their beliefs about not showing their bodies on instagram ???!!!!! They say “This is NOT something I would do” yet those women are the very ones who get 4 million dollar budget videos made about sucking and licking on homemade ice cream !!!! These other girls have nothing but beautiful bodies !!!! Who cares if the flaunt it ??? THEY SHOULD !!! So the next time I see someone with a big budget video sucking on lollipops yet giving righteous speeches shaming other women for exposing their bodies, I would like to tell those people don’t be a hypocrite as you suck on your lollipop having HUGE budget dreams … why would you stand firmly against girls getting attention JUST LIKE YOU and they have absolutely nothing ????”

As The Blast previously reported, Britney then backtracked in another Instagram post and insisted, “What I said had nothing to do with anyone specific at all … it was clearly a subject in hand all women have had to deal with.” She then said that she was “honestly referencing my days when I was younger when I got discriminated against harshly.”

“If anybody knows what judgment feels like I’m sure Selena has gone through something pretty similar… and what I was replying to was honestly Kelis the MILKSHAKE video,” she added. “I apologize for my ignorance, but I didn’t even see the video for Ice Cream that Selena Gomez, who I genuinely look up to and have so much respect for, had made.”

While some fans slammed her "non-apology," other followers questioned why Britney did not just message Selena directly to share her apology.

As one user asked, “Why isn’t she able to call her friend Selena Gomez? Why are they [not] able to contact each other? This just adds so many more questions."