About
Seleneralso known as Gotta keep an eye on Selener, is a slang term and catchphrase that emerged from a 2012 song called “Beauty And A Beat” by Justin Beiber, featuring Nicki Minaj. The original line is sung by Nicki Minaj and the term “Selener” was used to refer to singer and actress Selena Gomez, who was rumored to be dating Beiber at the time. In subsequent years, the phrase entered stan and common slang, often captioned alongside images of people with twisted eyes or strange facial expressions.
Origin
On October 12, 2012, Justin Beiber’s official YouTube channel uploaded the music video for his track “Beauty And A Beat”, featuring rapper Nicki Minaj. The video has amassed over a billion plays in nearly a decade (see below). At the 3:18 minute timestamp, Nicki Minaj says, “But I gotta keep an eye on Selener” in reference to Selena Gomez, Beiber’s girlfriend at the time.
The word “Selener” was later added to the Urban Dictionary on October 24, 2012, where it was defined as “someone we need to watch out for”. The post has garnered over 1,200 likes in over a decade (see below).
Spread
Over the following months and years, the term and the expanded slogan were then used in various posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. For example, on December 31, 2013, Instagram page @miles_jai posted a photo of a cross-eyed person next to a caption that read “keep an eye on fer selener”. The post has garnered more than 13,000 likes in over nine years (see below).
On December 10, 2019, Twitter user @triplevirghoe posted a photo of a British woman alongside the caption, “me in 2012 keeping tabs on Selener”. The post has garnered over 70,000 likes in nearly three years (see below).
Various examples
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7107744037234314539
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7041424323508178182
