When Justin Bieber Confessed That His Hit Track ‘Sorry’ Was Indeed “About a Girl”

When Justin Bieber's remorseful track Sorry dropped in 2015, fans easily speculated that the emotional public apology is indirectly aimed at his ex-Selena Gomez. The couple had been through an on-off relationship and finally split in 2018. In an exclusive interview with GQ in 2016, the Baby hitmaker confirmed that the track was indeed "about a girl". “People ran with that—that I was, like, apologizing with the song and stuff. It really had nothing to do with that. No. It was about a girl," he had said back then. He also admitted to making childish mistakes and the reason for making the track was to own up to them as a man would. “Everyone, when they start growing up, realizes, ‘Man, I did some dumb shit when I was younger.’ It’s not just me.… If I could go back, I wouldn’t really change much. I think it’s all my journey. That stuff made me who I am," Bieber had revealed. 

As per The Things, during an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' show in November 2015, the Ghost singer confirmed that Sorry was about Gomez. As per Teen Vogue, the popular track was written by Justin Tranter, who has also collaborated with Gomez on her hit tracks Hands to Myself and Good for You. Tranter had forewarned Gomez before Sorry was released in October 2015. In an interview with CBS in 2017, he confirmed the making of the 'apology' romantic number, "I never met Justin Bieber. Just knew that the session was for him specifically," he began. "Sometimes you can use what is happening in pop culture to affect a song. So obviously what we are talking about in Sorry, everyone has experienced that moment like 'OK, wait I actually need to apologize.' So that is a very universal feeling but also being aware of how pop culture was viewing him as in that moment, I knew an apology would be good."

The ace music collaborator went on to explain that he called up Gomez and warned her about the track since they also happen to be close friends, "When we knew Sorry was happening and when it was official and Justin cut it, we called her and said, 'Just so you know, this song’s coming out,’ because these are real people’s lives. This is real life, and you have to be real with your friends.” 

As per Glamour, in an exclusive interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, the Peaches hitmaker admitted to being immature and crazy during his relationship with Gomez. “I think I was just hurt from my previous relationship,” he explained. “I think I still was dealing with a lot of unforgiveness and all that sort of stuff. To be honest, I don’t even think I knew what I was struggling with at the time.” Bieber then continued, “In my previous relationship, I went off and just went crazy and went wild, just was being reckless,” while referring to his past with Gomez. “This time, I took the time to really build myself and focus on me and try to make the right decisions and all that sort of stuff. And yeah, I got better.”