Selena Gomez Calls Singing in Emilia Perez 'Therapeutic': 'Not the Way I Would Normally Sing' (original) (raw)

Selena Gomez is opening up about her new musical role.

Speaking at a Q&A with the rest of the cast of Emilia Perez at the Telluride Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 1, the actress and singer, 32, revealed that singing in the new movie was “therapeutic.”

Asked about the process of learning her character Jessi Del Monte’s song, “Mi Camino,” Gomez said, “It was actually a totally different song.”

“It had a bit more of a rough sound to it and over the course of, you know, working with [singer-songwriter] Camille on the song intimately, it became almost like a ballad,” the Only Murders in the Building star said. “It was more of a story about a woman and phases of life that she goes through and it just was beautiful.”

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Selena Gomez at a screening of 'Emilia Perez' at the Telluride Film Festival on September 01, 2024 in Telluride, Colorado.

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“I watched it, I was in the studio for hours and hours and it was just so much fun, but also not trying to sing the way that I would normally sing,” Gomez continued. “I had to try and, you know, in my mind to think, ‘Okay, this is what were the limits I could reach within my character.'"

She added, “And it was really therapeutic and I thought it was so beautifully done.”

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Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana at a screening of 'Emilia Perez' at the Telluride Film Festival on September 01, 2024 in Telluride, Colorado.

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“I thought it was very important to show her and her true form, you know, just wanting to be who she is,” Gomez concluded.

The “Who Says” artist’s comments come after Netflix released the first trailer for the Spanish-language French film on Aug. 26.

Adriana Paz, Karla Sofia Gascon, Jacques Audiard, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana speak after a screening of 'Emilia Perez' at the Telluride Film Festival on September 01, 2024 in Telluride, Colorado.

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The synopsis for the movie, which also stars Zoe Saldaña, describes the film as "an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations.”

The movie stars Karla Sofia Gascón as cartel leader Emilia Pérez, who tries to fake her death. Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez are also included in the cast.

"Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness," the synopsis reads. "The fearsome cartel leader Emilia enlists Rita (Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self."

Emilia Pérez is in select theaters Nov. 1, then streaming on Netflix Nov. 13.