Selena Gomez wanted to talk about her voice. The internet, predictably, had a voice of its own. In an Instagram Story video posted on Sunday, 18 October, the 34-year-old singer and actress revealed that years of nicotine vaping changed her voice.
Gomez admitted that quitting the highly addictive substance hasn't been a walk in the park. Her candid Instagram confession spread across social media, where viewers began comparing her current speech patterns to her older appearances.
However, some commenters were more distracted by Gomez's face, claiming that they barely recognised the former Disney star. While Gomez attributed her altered voice to vaping, internet theories about her appearance travelled further, from questions about her changing face shape all the way to the inevitable 'clone' conspiracy.
Selena Gomez's Changing Appearance Sparks Fan Theories
'She looks different every day,' one Instagram user wrote beneath a post about Gomez's vaping admission. Another simply asked, 'Who's the person in the second slide?'
Others were even more blunt. 'Bro I'm sorry the more and more I see her the more and more it doesn't look like Selena Gomez,' one viewer wrote.
Another asked whether the apparent changes went beyond her voice: 'Did it change her eyes and whole face as well?'
Then, because this is the internet, the theories promptly left Earth. 'That's not her we all know this,' one person claimed, while others declared 'Clone' and 'Definitely swapped.'
Despite all the internet detective work over her face, Gomez's confession concerned something viewers couldn't capture in a before-and-after photo: her voice.
Selena Gomez Says Vaping Changed Her Voice
'I'm not gonna be able to change my voice. I vaped nicotine a lot,' Gomez said in the Instagram video. She admitted that nicotine had been 'so hard to quit' before warning followers against picking up the habit.
'It's so stupid. It changed my voice,' she said, adding that anyone who dislikes hearing her current voice simply doesn't have to listen.
Gomez also revealed that she has since stopped vaping and hopes to keep it that way, although she acknowledged that quitting nicotine remains difficult.
Fans Aren't Entirely Convinced
Gomez supplied her explanation, but the comment section apparently wasn't ready to close the investigation. 'It's her new cadence and style of speech not her voice itself. How is that attributed to vaping?' one commenter asked. Another heard no difference in her voice at all, writing, 'Idk sounds the same to me.'
Some users shared their own experiences with vaping, including one singer who claimed it affected her vocal range. Others simply appreciated Gomez using the conversation as a warning, with one commenter writing, 'Thank you for speaking out against it Selena!'
Vaping can affect the vocal cords, but it isn't the only thing that can change a person's voice. Between Gomez's history of lupus-related throat swelling and her own vaping admission, the answer may be more complicated than the comment section wants it to be. As for her changing face, it seems beauty isn't the only thing in the eye of the beholder. Recognition is, too.
