Let's be real for a second. If you were online during the mid-2010s, you remember the absolute chaos that erupted every time a "Jelena" notification hit your feed. It was a era of grainy paparazzi shots, deleted Instagram captions, and the eternal, desperate hope for a Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez song.
Fans wanted a "Last Christmas" or a "Senorita" moment. They wanted the two biggest pop stars on the planet to finally put their messy, beautiful, exhausting history into a single three-minute track.
But here’s the thing: an official, radio-ready collaboration never actually touched the charts.
Instead, we got "Strong." We got "Can’t Steal Our Love." We got a handful of leaked snippets that vanished from the internet faster than a Bieber apology tour. Honestly, the story of their musical partnership is just as complicated as their eight-year relationship. It's a tale of "what ifs," accidental radio leaks, and songs that were probably better off staying in the vault.
The Night "Strong" Broke the Internet
October 2015 was a weird time. Selena had just dropped Revival, and Justin was weeks away from releasing Purpose. Then, out of nowhere, a track called "Strong" played on Drake’s OVO Sound Radio.
The internet didn't just break; it shattered.
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It wasn't a club banger. It was a moody, stripped-back duet where they basically sang about why they couldn't communicate. You've heard the lyrics: Justin singing about his lack of patience and Selena wishing she was better at the distance. It felt intrusive, like we were listening to a private therapy session over a slow beat.
The catch? Sources close to the pair eventually admitted the song was recorded "just for fun" years prior. It wasn't a marketing stunt for their new albums. It was a relic of a time when they were trying to make things work through music. Within hours, the track was scrubbed from SoundCloud and YouTube. Universal Music Group went on a copyright strike spree that made it clear: this wasn't supposed to be your business.
Why We Never Got a "Real" Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez Song
You’d think from a business perspective, a Bieber-Gomez collab would be a license to print money. So why didn't it happen?
Nuance matters here. When you’re in a relationship that the entire world is dissecting, sometimes the last thing you want to do is clock into work with your partner. Selena has often talked about how she felt "minimalized" by the relationship—that her talent was overshadowed by who she was dating.
Recording a high-profile Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez song would have permanently tethered their professional brands in a way that neither was ready for. They were already "Jelena" in the tabloids; they didn't need to be "Jelena" on the Billboard Hot 100.
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The Mystery of "Can’t Steal Our Love"
Fast forward to 2017. Another leak hits. This one, often titled "Can’t Steal Our Love" or simply "Steal Our Love," featured a much more prominent Selena vocal with Justin mumbling through the chorus.
It sounded unfinished. Because it was.
These leaks aren't "hidden gems" found in a dusty attic. They are usually rough demos or "scratch vocals" recorded in home studios. In the music industry, artists often record together just to see if the chemistry translates to tape. Sometimes, it just doesn't click. Or, more likely in this case, the emotional weight of the song became too heavy to release once the relationship soured again.
The Songs That Are Actually About Each Other
Even though they didn't share a microphone often, they definitely shared a muse. If you're looking for the "spiritual" Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez song, you have to look at their solo catalogs. This is where the real tea is spilled.
- "Lose You to Love Me" (Selena): The definitive closure track. When she sang "In two months, you replaced us," the world knew exactly who she was talking about. It’s arguably more powerful than any duet could have been.
- "Nothing Like Us" (Justin): A raw, piano-heavy ballad Justin wrote right after one of their first major breakups. He even used a picture of them together for the (initial) promo.
- "Love Will Remember" (Selena): This one actually featured a voicemail (allegedly) from Justin at the beginning of the leaked version. It was the closest we got to a collaboration for a long time.
- "Sorry" and "Mark My Words" (Justin): Bieber confirmed to Ellen DeGeneres that a huge chunk of the Purpose album was inspired by Selena.
The Rise of AI "Collabs" in 2026
Lately, you might have seen videos on TikTok or YouTube claiming to be a new Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez song. Be careful. With the explosion of generative AI, people are now "cloning" their 2015-era voices to create the duets we never got.
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Songs like "Only You Always" or "Half a Promise" are floating around, and they sound scarily real. But they aren't. They’re digital fan fiction. While they satisfy a certain nostalgia, they lack the actual human messiness that made "Strong" so compelling back in the day.
What Most People Get Wrong About Their Musical History
The biggest misconception is that there’s a finished, mastered album of duets sitting in a vault at Interscope or Def Jam.
There isn't.
Most "insiders" who have worked with them suggest that while they spent plenty of time in studios together (often just hanging out while the other worked), they rarely hit the "record" button at the same time. Their schedules were grueling, and their relationship was often too volatile to sustain a professional recording session.
The Actionable Takeaway for Fans
If you're hunting for that "lost" Justin Bieber with Selena Gomez song, stop looking for a secret official release. It doesn't exist. Instead, curate your own "Jelena" playlist by blending the tracks they wrote about each other in chronological order.
- Start with the honeymoon phase ("All That Matters").
- Move into the first cracks ("Love Will Remember").
- Hit the peak of the drama ("The Heart Wants What It Wants" and "Where Are U Now").
- End with the finality of "Lose You to Love Me" and "Ghost."
This gives you a much more honest "collaboration" than a leaked, unfinished demo ever could. Their music serves as a public diary of a very private struggle. We may never get a 4K music video of them singing together, but in the world of streaming, their voices will be intertwined forever anyway.
To truly understand the impact of their shared musical history, listen to the Purpose and Rare albums back-to-back. You’ll hear a conversation happening across two different records—one of the most unique "collaborations" in pop music history.