Selena Gomez may want to heed her own advice a little more carefully. The 21-year-old singer was performing her song “Slow Down” at a concert at the Patriot Center in Farifax, Va., on Thursday night, when she lost her footing and took a tumble in front of fans.
The “Come & Get It” singer didn’t appear to notice that she had moved a little too close to stage’s edge when she accidentally danced off of it and fell onto a raised platform below. She quickly recovered from the slip, lifting herself back up with the help of fans who were standing in the front row. Seconds later, a backup dancer came to her aid and led her back onto the stage, where she continued her performance.
View the video of her fall (at approximately 3:25) below.
However, the most talked about aspect of the night wasn’t Gomez’s fall, but the fact that her singing didn’t seem to miss a beat during it. On YouTube, where an amateur video of the fall went viral, commenters criticized Gomez for allegedly lip-syncing, with one YouTube user writing that the audible scream Gomez made immediately after her slight tumble was “the only real sound that came out of her mouth.”
It’s not the first time that the former "Wizards of Waverly Place" star has been criticized for lip syncing: After she performed at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards both Kid Rock and Ed Sheeran made comments about lip-syncing that many viewers speculated were aimed at her. Shortly after she left the stage at the event, Rock, who presented an award for Best Rap Album, joked “let’s give it up for lip-syncing under pre-recorded music!” while Sheeran later tweeted, "I find it really weird when people congratulate artists for not miming over a backing track. Isn't that how it's meant to be?"
Sheeran, who was at one point romantically linked to the singer through her close friend Taylor Swift, later denied that he had been referring to Gomez, but not all fans bought the story.
Gomez also recently faced criticism from rising pop singer Lorde, who told Rolling Stone that she didn’t like the message behind the former Disney star’s hit “Come & Get It.”
"I love pop music on a sonic level. But I'm a feminist and the theme of [Selena’s] song] is, 'When you're ready come and get it from me,’” Lorde said. "I'm sick of women being portrayed this way.”
She further expounded on her views in an interview with a New Zealand radio station, saying, "A song came out recently by a big pop star and the lyrical thing is 'when you're ready come and get it, I'll be sitting right here just waiting' and I just find that so pathetic and I don't think girls should be listening to that kind of thing and I don't think that is normal or healthy."
Gomez responded to the comments in a radio interview of her own, saying that she appreciated the comments but took issue with women criticizing each other. “I think she is super talented and I think it’s awesome,” Gomez said, referring to the “Royals” singer. “But I think at the same time that feminism and that specific thing is very sensitive because in my opinion it’s not feminism if you’re tearing down another artist. So that’s the only thing that I feel but you know, she’s young, she’s got so much talent, she’s gonna take over, she gets it, so I don’t take it to heart.”
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