For Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar" video, the singer approached director Jesse Peretz to help produce an homage to '70s film and queer romance. In the four-minute clip, Gomez plays three characters in a love triangle--a curious high school student, seductive gym coach and closeted teacher--and it turns out Gomez was the driving force behind its queer storyline.
Peretz told Billboard it was Gomez who proposed that "Bad Liar" center on queer love: "She brought on this idea that somewhere within this love triangle is lesbian attraction," he said. "It just gave me another reason to do it--acknowledging that it's not just heterosexuals in the world."
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Throughout "Bad Liar," the characters' queerness is only speculative, never confirmed. Towards the end of the video, however, we see Gomez's high school student sing the line, "With my feelings on fire, guess I'm a bad liar," as she lusts after a photo of the gym teacher. What Gomez and Peretz created together is an inclusive epic that gives much-needed support to those in fear of acknowledging and declaring their sexuality--queer visibility that's garnered more than 94 million views.
But this isn't her first time paying tribute to the LGBTQ community. In 2016, she donated a portion of proceeds from her North Carolina Revival Tour performance to local charity, Equality North Carolina, to help overturn the state's controversial "Bathroom Bill." This June, Gomez also wrote about her experiences growing up with a close circle of queer family friends. "There is still a significant amount of work to do and I look forward to the day when a person is never judged, discriminated or feared for their sexuality," she told Billboard.
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"Bad Liar" was notably co-penned with queer songwriter Justin Tranter, who's collaborated with Gomez on some of her most defining work, including "Good For You." Watch "Bad Liar," below, in all its gay glory.
