The career path for child actors who wish to become pop stars seems so well trodden at this point that one almost imagines it to be simple to morph from starring on a kids show with a purple dinosaur to being a mega-celebrity in the tabloids and on the radio.
But someone like Selena Gomez — who’s now 23, and who’s been acting since she was 10 (starting with “Barney & Friends”) and recording records since she was 16 or so — probably doesn’t know what it’s like to not be busy working and performing, cultivating her fan base.
Her second solo record, 2015’s “Revival,” has yielded a number of inescapable radio hits, like “Hands to Myself” and “Same Old Love.” She’s already been through the requisite shocking/bad-girl phase, appearing in the post-ironic sensationalistic bikinis-and-assault film “Spring Breakers” in 2013. Back in the spring, Gomez became the most followed person on Instagram, which, maybe more than anything else, gives you a sense of how huge she is. She may not be Beyonce or Taylor Swift, but Gomez is part of the same bright constellation.
She performs at Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville, Sunday, May 29, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $46 to $76. 860-226-7711 and mohegansun.com.
