Selena Gomez says Bad Liar is not actually about The Weeknd

Selena Gomez is in an enviably happy relationship with The Weeknd right now, but her new single Bad Liar is not about the Canadian superstar.

She wrote the song long before hooking up with Abel Tesfaye, and told Nick Grimshaw that she wasn't dating anyone when she wrote the song, which is about the excitement of a new relationship.

"When we wrote the song I was super-single," she told Nick Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show.

"I love that feeling. It's so addictive to me. I always seem to wrap it into a song i'm writing on."

Selena says she believes the secret to keeping the spark alive in a relationship is time apart, which is just as well for two international superstars.

"I think i'm still figuring things out. I like keeping things exciting, maybe distance is really good too," she told Nick.

But she adds that things can go stale overnight in a relationship, which is why she works so hard to keep things fresh.

"It's that moment, when you wake up and think: 'Oh. This again,'" she said.

Selena's single Bad Liar is racing up the charts worldwide, thanks in part to a sample from Talking Heads 1977 single, Psycho Killer.

She says she was thrilled when the song and sample got approval from the man behind the iconic band, David Byrne.

"We sent it to David Byrne himself and asked if he would approve it so if he hated it, the song would not exist," she said.

"When the song came out we got everyone in the band's bessing and it was so surreal. I was freaking out."

Selena Gomez's new single Bad Liar is on the Radio 1 playlist now