After much anticipation, Selena Gomez’s documentary my mind and me premiering on AppleTV+ on November 4. The documentary chronicles six years of Selena Gomez’s life and presents the pop icon in an authentic and unvarnished light, giving audiences a fresh and empathetic perspective. Rather than appearing like a conventional documentary, my mind and me is a deep interaction with the artist.
Thanks to the documentary, my admiration for Gomez only grew. It was heartwarming to see a prominent public figure in the age of social media bringing attention to mental health issues and methods of dealing with anxiety. The documentary is the virtual equivalent of Gomez hugging her fans, and it sparked meaningful dialogue across all forms of media.
Alek Keshishian, Selena’s longtime colleague and director of the music video for her breakthrough single “Hands to Myself,” is directing the documentary. After seeing Keshishian’s work on the 1991 Madonna documentary Truth or Dare, Gomez says she was determined to use it to capture the difficult moments in her life.
The documentary follows Gomez’s growth journey after leaving a mental health facility. She is eager to help others and has growing ambitions, and is “constantly searching for something his mind cannot see”. Gomez recounts her return to the mainstream after an extended hiatus, while she was still figuring out her identity.
The documentary’s excellence can be directly attributed to the adversity Gomez faced while making it. This demonstrates that she is not so much getting rid of her story but rather facing it head-on. Early on, Keshishian captured Gomez’s philanthropy in Kenya, revealing the invisible side of his fame.
Due to Gomez’s diagnoses of lupus and bipolar disorder, as well as the premature end of her Revival Tour after 55 performances, filming for the highly anticipated documentary took six years. After being hospitalized with lupus and mental health issues, Gomez didn’t know when or how to get back into the music business. Before she could produce songs or perform on stage, she had to recover both physically and psychologically.
Gomez reveals a fresh and endearing part of her personality by letting her guard down. Although she’s been through a lot in the past six years, the documentary portrays a side of her that suggests reviews of her performance at the American Music Awards and the release of his breakup anthem can be seen as a way to heal. Gomez changes the public’s perspective on her through the documentary and by revealing private details about her family life.
Gomez craves the kind of intimacy that her notoriety hasn’t quite provided. Compared to her current involvement in the media and her experience of feeling like a ‘commodity’, she believes she has a higher calling to exert influence, namely the communities that need help. The welcome Gomez has received in Kenya underscored that she has found her own private refuge despite the vitriol she has faced over the past six years.
While in Kenya, Gomez explored what drives her beyond her fame: the desire to serve
others. Several times during the film, the singer explores this passion by returning to her roots and opening up about her life.
The singer shows no signs of protection as she invites the film crew into her home and introduces them to her friends and family. Gomez takes the film crew into her past by showing them her childhood home in Grand Prairie, Texas. She even showed them the place where she first found out she had been cast on the “Barney” show.
For Keshishian, it was important to provide Gomez, now 30, with a safe environment because this documentary is the most fragile she has ever presented to her audience.
In a more public light, the documentary focuses on Gomez’s return to the music industry with the release of his song “Lose You to Love Me”, which is considered his most melancholy composition. Not only that the song breaks recordsbut Gomez also received important reviews on his performance. The documentary shows her response to the criticisms that have been published in the news, and it’s unfiltered and intense.
Gomez had a freak out while performing at the AMAs, a performance meant to mark her return to the spotlight. Gomez says she’s ready to return to performing after months of preparation, but this time it will be on her terms. In the documentary, she laments, and the revelation of her struggles is poignant.
The singer’s mental health issues are revealed to the public, along with the truth about her hospitalization. This theme is explored extensively throughout the documentary, demonstrating its accessibility and honesty.
Gomez’s documentary has a strong focus on coming of age, and the singer says her viewing experience was just as destructive. Gomez said she will not see the documentary againsince she is no longer the same person as before.
Although the documentary primarily focuses on Gomez’s past, viewers also get a glimpse of the present. Gomez, the creator of up-and-coming makeup brand Rare Beauty, intends to release music with a focus on relationships that mainstream audiences haven’t been exposed to.
As she enters her thirties, Gomez intends to open a new chapter, tell more about her story and embrace who she truly is today: someone who cares for others and defends education. The actress uses her emotions throughout the documentary to not only convey the message of mental health awareness, but also to spread the story of a young woman learning to cope in adulthood.
Through my mind and me, Gomez demonstrates that she is doing more than fighting for her own survival; she actively makes a difference in the lives of those around her.
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