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Last week, Selena Gomez dropped a new high-energy, pop-EDM single “It Ain’t Me with producer Kygo. Of course, the track’s soulful verses about a lost love that started at age 17 led many of Selena’s fans to wonder if the song was actually about her ex, Justin Bieber.

The songwriter behind the track, Ali Tamposi, is here to clarify.

In a new interview, Ali noted that the song took off thanks to one of the other songwriters on the track, Andrew Watt. She explained that he “has a friendship with Selena. And I think that when she had heard that Andrew was a writer on this song, it sparked in her.”

They had originally only gone into the studio with Kygo, but adding Selena into the mix seemed to be the magic trick to make the song work. “When she heard it, she knew,” Ali explained, adding that “I think at that time in her life, the song spoke to her.”

Though the song was written before Selena was attached to the project, Ali notes that “as songwriters, we have an idea of what the artist is going through, and sometimes we utilize that as an inspiration to try and connect with the artist.” While the process isn’t always perfect, “there’s the few times that we are able to nail it.” (Funnily enough, Ali, Andrew, and their co-writer Brian also worked on Justin’s “Let Me Love You” together, a track that many people think is about Selena. Music is a small world sometimes.)

As for the rumours that Selena is singing it about Justin? Ali says she “can’t necessarily say that this is the song directed at Justin, but I do think this is a song for her just displaying her strength as a woman in this industry and that particular place that she is in her life. And it’s natural for any human being at her age to be going through the things she’s been going through, but the difference is she’s caught under a microscope. She can be shamed for her struggles.”

Until Selena herself explicitly says it’s about Justin, it’s best to jam out and channel the emotions she conveys within the lyrics. Plus, if her BFF Justin Tranter gave her a heads up about “Sorry,” don’t you think this trio would do the same for Justin? — teenvogue.