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Selena Gomez is the boss now.

“She’s exhausted,” her manager tells me. Even though she’s ahead of schedule, everything is still a little frantic. Her new album, Revival, debuted at number one, and two singles are sitting comfortably in the top 20. She’s already done four interviews by the time she gets to me, and though she seems genuinely happy to chat, there’s a bit of a darkness following her.

Two days ago, she was in New York City filming The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and before that she was in Europe for a few days. The press tour for her new album Revival is non-stop. Today, Selena is in Los Angeles. She gets to stay at her home in the city, but she’s here to work. She’s been up since at least 5:30 a.m. and in this building filled with lights and cameras since 7 a.m.

When she sits down on the couch for our interview, she’s fidgety. The lights have to be moved higher. Her microphone cord is bothering her. She adjusts her knitted dress to sit flush with her skin, and pulls her mane of hair around and over her shoulders. When she blinks, her eyelashes seem eight miles long. Around her, a dozen people move quickly to get the camera in place. They are asking her questions rapidly, with a kind of rushed importance. She nods. She shakes her head. Things change.

Someone asks her for a mic check and she brightens. She looks away from her entourage of people and at the camera and smiles. It’s a full smile and the happiest she’s looked since she started getting settled. “One, two, three, four,” she says in a monotone before lifting her voice into a sing-songy progression, “hi, hiiiii.”

Somewhere a switch flips. Suddenly, Selena Gomez doesn’t look exhausted at all. She looks at me and in that same sing-songy voice says “all riiiight,” and her crowd of people behind me hush.

She’s ready.

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