When it comes to celebrities’ highly-curated Instagram accounts, a typical formula of photo shoots, enviable designer-laden selfies and the rare ‘relatable’ photo is applied.
However, one recent photo of Selena Gomez has thrown down the gauntlet as arguably the most ‘stars, they’re just like us’ moment yet.
It’s a rare occurrence to feel so deeply seen by a celebrity but in one innocuous candid of Selena pensively staring into the distance she might have achieved the impossible.
The image is of Selena, fresh-faced, yet seemingly with all the weight of the world on her shoulders, wrapped in a blanket and apparently contemplating all of life’s problems with her sequin Fendi Baguette on standby.
Unlike Gomez’s typical Rare Beauty-fuelled glam shots, the 31-year-old is channelling Jane Fonda wrapped in a cardigan on a beach.
Naturally, this photo has piqued the interest of the internet.
The survivor after the end of a horror movie be like: pic.twitter.com/bDDiF8SOST
— PΞRRY. 🔰 (@perrybtc_) August 14, 2023
looking like ana de armas at the end of knives out https://t.co/BqupHt4ITL pic.twitter.com/Ik2PLwGcnq
— jess (taylor’s version) (@jessieferg) August 14, 2023
Me when I’m wfh and I send 1 email https://t.co/vrauXgBYFX
— Ambi (@JerseyShade) August 14, 2023
It’s easy to see why Selena succumbing to ennui and languor has become the most empathetic image of 2023. Following on from our ‘Goblinmode’ winter, Selena has single-handedly summarised our perpetual lethargy in one single frame.
Even Selena herself has taken to social media to react to the viral image by sharing two of her favourite versions of the meme on her Instagram Stories.
This shot couldn’t have come at a better time, we were running out of reaction shots to send our friends when bailing on dinner reservations to stay home for the fifth time in a row.
Could the time-old adage about pictures being worth a thousand words be any more true?
