Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco are cringe – but their love is refreshing

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco are in love and want us to know about it! (Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

‘Romance is dead,’ my single friends and I complain as we endlessly swipe through dating apps, looking for a meaningful connection among the muck.

We fawn over the declarations of love in shows like Bridgerton, devour Emily Henry novels or pine for the kind of relationships our favourite celebrities have. 

That is, except for Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco.

The internet is screaming at them to stop sharing their love bubble with us, accusing them of being too much, too cringe, and simply too in love.

I’ll admit the promotion for their new album, I Said I Love You First, has been a bit in-your-face with shared photoshoots (featuring Selena’s feet on Benny’s face and naked snuggling) feeling invasive as we all fail to match their freak.

But despite all of this, I’ve actually found their passionate — and constant — declarations rather refreshing in this pitiful romantic landscape.

The couple are absolutely besotted with each other (Picture: John Shearer/97th Oscars/The Academy via Getty Images)

Like it or not, Benny and Selena are exactly the couple we need right now, particularly when it comes to the record producer, who has been gleefully expressing his love at every opportunity.

He actively engages with her passions; starring in makeup videos, renting out entire botanical gardens, and even filling a bath with cheese on Valentine’s Day.

The 37-year-old songwriter could just as easily play the uninterested and unwilling fiancé card, having been relatively unknown — despite 11 Grammy nods — until his relationship debut.

But I suspect a large part of the distaste for their unapologetic approach comes from the fact that many fans are (loudly) sharing how they don’t find Benny attractive. Or at least, attractive enough for Selena, 32.

If he looked more conventionally handsome, the girls might be falling over themselves to praise him for his bold declarations of love — cheese bath and all.

Regardless of how you feel about Benny and their friends-to-lovers journey, this in-your-face romance should inspire us to love unapologetically.

Dating coaches and ‘alpha males’ continue to advise the exact opposite of Benny’s behaviour, promising that hypermasculinity and incel culture will seduce women.

Benny seems to make Selena incredibly happy, so why are we complaining (Picture: Selena Gomez/Youtube) I Said I Love You First review

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco might have out-hornied Sabrina Carpenter with I Said I Love You First but there’s more to this loved-up album than meets the eye.

From the promotion, I was anticipating the more hot and heavy tracks like Cowboy, Bluest Flame, and previously released single Sunset Blvd and the couple certainly hasn’t been shy about inviting us into their bedroom.

With collaborators like Charli XCX and Gracie Abrams, I Said I Love You First has fast dance moments and classic pop tunes but it’s in the quiet moments that this album thrives.

Younger And Hotter Than Me is a stand-out on first listen, exposing insecurities of Selena’s past relationships with the familiar breathy, slow sound of her biggest hits.

The album is a cohesive lyrical journey, moving from pain and insecurity, through to some not-so-subtle jabs at her exes — How Does It Feel To Be Forgotten is particularly pointed — until she finally reaches the love she feels she’s meant to have.

In true Selena fashion, there are a handful of tracks that shine while the rest is an average pop album. Nothing groundbreaking but nothing you’d rush to turn off either.

Final verdict: 3/5

We’re told to fix the male loneliness epidemic but we keep inventing words to avoid committing to each other; situationships, dating, casually seeing, friends with benefits, talking stages.

In a world where men are frequently told to bury their emotions and play games to make their partners want them, Benny’s loved-up approach is refreshing.

But the horrors of dating are not just down to male attitudes; social media tells us to soft launch our partners, cautiously revealing them after months of dating out of fear that it’ll end the second we confess we actually like them — a mortifying prospect.

Love is cringe but maybe we should all be more embarrassing (Picture: Michael Buckner/GG2025/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Social media has made us so desperate to be effortlessly cool and aloof that we’ve lost the art of being romantic. 

Benny and Selena break all the rules of modern dating, it’s a seemingly whirlwind romance that is deeply in our faces with plenty of evidence left behind should things go south.

Yes, if they do end up splitting up this entire saga will be deeply uncomfortable for many years. But that’s the risk of being in love.

They’re obsessed with each other and whining at them on social media isn’t going to change that. So stop complaining and maybe you’ll find someone who treats you as well as Benny treats Selena.

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