Songfacts®:

• Selena Gomez wrote this song about her dating struggles, co-penning it with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter. The same pair also co-penned her hit Rare single "Lose You to Love Me."
• The song is about Gomez's elusive search for a beau who will truly love her and won't let her down.
  
  I want a boyfriend
  Tell me, are there any good ones left?
  I keep finding wrong ones, but I want love again and again
  
  Said Gomez: "It's a lighthearted song about falling down and getting back up time and time again in love, but also knowing that you don't need anyone other than yourself to be happy."
• Gomez revealed to Zane Lowe that the idea for the song came from a text sent by her to Trantner and Michaels about their upcoming songwriting session. "I said, 'Well, it's like I feel like I've covered everything on the album. I was like, I don't know. Life's good. I want a boyfriend. That's about it.'"
  
  By the time she'd got to the studio, her two co-writers had already titled the song "Boyfriend." And because Gomez had said "I want," not "need," their concept was that a girl can want a boyfriend, but no one needs one.
• Gomez, Michaels and Trantner wrote the song well before the coronavirus era. Because the Rare deluxe edition came out amid the global outbreak, Gomez stressed that the song lyrics didn't reflect her concerns in April 2020. "A boyfriend is nowhere near the top of my list of priorities," she said, adding that her worries lay with the consequences of the pandemic.
• The Los Angeles duo of Sam Homaee and Jon Wienner, known as The Roommates, produced the track. They also helmed another Rare deluxe track "She."
• In the video, directed by Matty Peacock, we see Gomez go on several dates with various potential love interests. Each time the spark fizzles out, she uses a magic potion that turns her suitors into frogs.