On February 24, 2021, DJ Snake posted a video to his social media accounts displaying messages with Selena Gomez about them receiving the RIAA 4× Platinum certification plaque for "Taki Taki", their previous collab with Cardi B and Ozuna.[3][4][5] He then sends Gomez a message reading; "I think it's time we gave them another one", followed by an audio clip.[5] They announced the release date and title of the single the following day, February 25.[6]
The song was released on March 4, 2021, along with its music video.[3] A music video was released alongside the song.[3][7] The video is set inside an oriental hair salon, accompanied by psychedelic transitions and costumes.
With the whole world being separated from each other I kept looking and working only on pure good vibes, I wanted to make music for the world and mix all my favorite influences of Afrobeat, Latin music, something that felt grounded and organic. [...] "Selfish Love" came very naturally for us and I think it's the perfect evolution for our history together.
"Selfish Love" is a tropical house[13] and dance song[14] with dubstep influences, Latin, Middle Eastern[15] and "chill" saxophone rhythms.[14] With lyrics in both Spanish and English,[3] the song tells the story of a girl admitting feelings of jealousy.[14] The song was written by DJ Snake and Gomez alongside Kat Dahlia, Kris Floyd, K Sotomayor and Marty Maro, and was produced by DJ Snake and Maro.[16]
Credits adapted from Tidal.[16]
- DJ Snake – songwriting, production, mixing
- Selena Gomez – vocals, songwriting
- Maro – songwriting, production
- K Sotomayor – songwriting
- Kat Dahlia – songwriting, backing vocals
- Kris Floyd – songwriting
- Bart Schoudel – engineering, vocal engineering
- Nicholas Mercier – engineering, mastering, mixing
