At first, it might feel like you’ve uncovered an alternate version of TV show 13 Reasons Why while watching Selena Gomez’s new music video for recent single “Bad Liar.”
There’s a youthful Gomez riding a bike on a sun-soaked road to an all-American high school, walking uncomfortably through the hallways past slamming lockers, and looking distracted in class and on the basketball court — all hallmark moments in the teen drama she helped produce.
But the video for Talking-Heads-sampling “Bad Liar,” which Gomez has billed on social media as a “film” and is directed by Girls veteran Jesse Peretz, actually takes place in a retro universe where the singer herself stars as a number of different characters. Besides reliving her high school days, she also dons a mustache to play the school principal, swipes on red lipstick to play her 70s-style mother, and appears in a Farrah Fawcett-inspired wig to play the bubbly gym teacher with a curious connection to multiple members of her music video family. Looks like all of Selena’s many characters are keeping some secrets from each other, as they lip sync along with the catchy, minimalist song’s lyrics.
At the very end, Gomez also teases new work under the title “Fetish.” The season of new, rejuvenated Selena is clearly just getting started.