Selena Gomez [1] and The Weeknd nearly caused a nationwide frenzy when cameras caught the two kissing outside of Giorgio Baldi [2] restaurant in LA back in January, just two months after the "Starboy" singer split [3] from longtime girlfriend Bella Hadid. While many were surprised about the unlikely pairing [4], it turns out that the couple is connected in more ways than one. Selena and The Weeknd first met at the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show [5] and sparks reportedly flew [6]. Both Selena and The Weeknd performed at the event [7] along with Rihanna [8], but he was still dating Bella at the time — and Selena had been linked to Samuel Krost [9] — so nothing came of the meeting.
There is a slight chance that Selena may have met The Weeknd through Taylor Swift [11], Bella's sister Gigi Hadid, or Bella herself, seeing as they all used to be friends [12]. Although sources are now claiming that Selena and Bella "were never good friends [13] to begin with," the two did used to follow each other on Instagram. Shortly after those PDA photos surfaced, Bella hit the "unfollow" button [14] on Selena's profile and seemingly responded to the news on social media by posting a photo of herself flipping the middle finger [15].
Selena has been a fan of The Weeknd's for quite some time now, so there is also a tiny possibility that she met The Weeknd through her ex-boyfriend, Justin Bieber [16]. Before Justin slammed the fellow Canadian singer [17] and called his music "wack," there was a time when the two were actually friends. In November 2015, Justin and The Weeknd were spotted hanging out backstage at the American Music Awards, and just a day before the show, Justin was seen out with Selena [18] in Beverly Hills. During a radio interview with John Garabedian that same year, Selena couldn't help but gush over The Weeknd's music, saying, "I'm obsessed, obsessed with The Weeknd's new album. I think he's doing such cool stuff lately and, obviously, he's been on fire, so I'm a huge Weeknd fan." However the two actually met, it's pretty clear how happy Selena and The Weeknd make each other [19].