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Justin Bieber

Selena Gomez Is Trending Higher Than Justin Bieber And Hailey Baldwin's Engagement Because We Love To Rally Behind The 'Victim'

The only thing we love more than a happy couple is the strong, single, scorned lover we can all get behind.

Whether we proudly follow celebrity couples or not, we’re all well aware of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s on-again-off-again, iconic romantic history. They were a teen dream romance that a lot of people, including them, struggled to leave behind.

So since news broke that Justin Bieber is reportedly engaged to model Hailey Baldwin, it’s left a sour taste in a lot of our mouths.

Hailey Baldwin is the only other celebrity besides Selena Gomez that Bieber famously has a long romantic history with, but their narrative is currently of little interest to anyone.

All we want to talk about is Selena Gomez. Is Selena Gomez OK? How Does Selena Gomez feel? How STUPID is Justin Bieber for not ending up with Selena Gomez!? On Twitter #SelenaIsFreeParty is trending higher than the actual engagement news. Clearly the world has picked a side.

That’s because when it comes to a love triangle we prefer to rally behind the ‘victim’. The one who is left behind becomes our new single icon and their empowerment is our coping mechanism for the trials and tribulations of dating.

In this situation, Bieber and Baldwin are our Brangelina, and Selena Gomez is our Jennifer Anniston. On multiple levels.

We throw our support behind her because the strong, single, wronged ex coming out on top is a much more helpful narrative for us. It’s the one we want to believe for our own sakes.

A core part of celebrity culture is the emotional investment we make in these glorified strangers, whether we intend to or not, and the victim narrative intensifies that empathy. That’s why our collective reaction is to console Selena Gomez like she’s our own friend and come to her defence so fiercely.

And so, in defiant celebration of the ostensibly scorned member of the love triangle at hand, the ‘SelenaIsFreeParty’ hashtag was born.

It’s the classic ‘You’re better off without him’ line that you tell your mate, or yourself to feel better. And if we believe it’s true for Selena, it can be true for us! So we really need it to be true for her.

As is our tendency, we lean into supporting the ‘victim’, and find catharsis in relating to their experience. Selena Gomez is allowed to feel both happy and sad, and anything else she wants to because that’s the spectrum we want to be allowed to feel ourselves when we are hurt.

While the sting is still hot, being cast by the public as the victim in a love triangle gains you ultimate innocence status. No one is idealised more than a lover scorned.

What’s interesting is that our favour falls with the current ‘victim’ and can be shifted accordingly if the narrative changes. It wasn’t long ago that Bella Hadid had our sympathy when Selena Gomez and The Weeknd initially got together, or that it went to The Weeknd after Selena and Justin reunited.

Basically, celebrity alliances are a fickle thing, but rooting for whoever is left single is forever – because being independent and thriving is the narrative we all need a bit more of in our lives.