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The cool thing about Netflix’s Russian Doll is how it restaged the Groundhog Day scenario for a new generation. Instead of Bill Murray’s aimless hedonism, we got Natasha Lyonne’s sense of purpose and, if take the journey with her, ultimately her cathartic resolution. Camila Cabello‘s extravagant new visual for “Liar” is more like the latter, where despite elephants falling from the sky and mansions burning up, the message is clear: The truth will either set you free or get you killed.
The plot is secondary to the overall experience of the clip, which is surreal with shades of Inception‘s mindfuckery, but it’s also key to the setup. Camila plays a fictionalized version of herself, engaged to billionaire oil scion Reese Kensington (Euphoria‘s Zak Steiner). She’s miserable. If she keeps lying to herself, she’ll die, and she does. So she reboots and starts telling the truth. That’s when shit gets crazy.
Shortly after proclaiming, “I hate this restaurant… and I want a cheeseburger!,” Camila causes wilted flowers to spring back to life and fellow bistro patrons to start living their truths — only for her to get immediately crushed by an elephant. It happens again and again, once with a torrent of French cyclists and once with a barrage of drones. Then she’s taken in by the “Truth Police” (evidently with the same arresting authority as the Karma Police) and, well, you’ll just have to watch to find out.
“Liar,” as directed by Dave Meyers, is cinematic in scope — the pink shot of Camila amid a sea of flamingos is downright dazzling — and also features Camila playing a gossipy TV host. As the slapstick drama heightens, Camila has a lot of fun playing someone increasingly more unhinged. In fact, she called it “literally most fun video I’ve ever made.”
“Liar” dropped alongside “Shameless” earlier this month, and while the “Shameless” video was impressive, “Liar” is a mini movie. It also stars The Flash‘s Keiynan Lonsdale in a key supporting role as well as Natalia Jiménez and Chelsea Brea.
Camila’s second album, Romance, is due out before the end of the year. Watch Camila relive a toxic if luxurious relationship in the dynamic “Liar” video above.
