In a world where the platform of social media almost solely shapes our perception of those wielding power and influence, it’s only the things that play out right in front of our screens that seem to hold any validity anymore.
Back in March last year, singer-songwriter Selena Gomez took to Instagram to wish Justin Bieber, her ex-boyfriend, an happy birthday through a heartfelt post and, for a while, those that had been well-wishers of the couple found a glimmer hope about them, just maybe, getting back together.
Much has happened in the year since with things not panning out quite the way some imagined.
Just months after Gomez’s birthday post, Bieber announced his engagement to model Hailey Baldwin, with various false reports of a wedding ceremony making the headlines on publications over the coming month, until the couple themselves confirmed that they were married in November.
And fast-forward to this month, when Gomez deleted the aforementioned birthday post about Bieber from 2018, itself an image that had been the last remaining sign of their relationship on any of her social handles, deleting Instagram altogether a couple of days later.
Though the two singers have long moved on from one another and had been public about their intention to keep the past behind, the events of this week have brought closure to many who’d been following their relationship’s highs-and-lows through the seven preceding years.
The couple had been rumored to be dating back in 2010, though concrete proof only emerged in 2010 after paparazzi spotted them spending time together in the isle of St. Lucia, which made the two go public, resulting in a spate of appearances hand-in-hand during the long awards season.
The relationship would then move forth relatively undulated for many years, with the odd false rumor or two about a break-up stemming from non-factual sources looking for some clickbait, though these too became hard to ignore in 2014 for different reasons.
Throughout the year, for the first time, the couple were linked with other people – Bieber with his now-wife Baldwin and Gomez with producer Zedd – and lessening media appearances with one another seemed to confirm relationship troubles.
Nonetheless, nothing significant would transpire. No fallout seemed to take place, and Bieber even went as far as dedicating a multitude of songs on his album entitled Purpose to Gomez, and the couple seemed to be better than ever before around 2017. With publications gorging on the public displays of affection that the two were engaging in right before the cameras, all of this despite Gomez being heavily linked to R&B singer The Weeknd.
But, the camel’s back broke soon enough.
Early last year, signs of the couple spending time together were few and far in between, and the well seemed to dry up completely. This, paired with Bieber being spotted publicly with Baldwin throughout this time, made fans consider the possibility that it might be over for good.
Then came news of the engagement, and we knew for a fact that ‘Jelena’ had moved on from one another and as fate would have it – it seemed that it was the love of his future wife that lured Bieber away from the messy turn for the worse his relations with Gomez had taken.