Over a month ago, on March third, to be exact, Loren Gray uploaded a music video that channeled all of our early 2000s It Girl fantasies into 2:49 minutes. Yet despite its hair-sprayed pink glow, the blue malfunction halfway through made us realize it’s better to be authentic. The music video’s for ‘Told You So’ where its lyrics depict a fling that’s so short-fused that it “Ain’t no friends with benefits.” However, nudged into the chorus, “I gave you a bite, and now you won’t leave me alone,” more so depict the erratic energy of someone wanting more from you even when you’re giving them the best you can.
Now, Loren’s newest tune, ‘Never Be Perfect,’ seems to be its extension. The music video’s settings are similar, taking us as her plus one for a day on the job. She warns her partner that though “I’m not a cheat, I’m not a liar,” she has her own handful of grenades that will surely blow them into breakup mode, and most of them are to do with those icky sentiments of not feeling good enough.
Whether through their lyrics or other conventions, we love when artists revisit their work for reflection or, in this case, interweave the message they want to portray. So we’ve dived into the contrasts between ‘Told You So’ and ‘Never Be Perfect,’ including touching on the appearance of a bear who might just be perfectionism’s ghost.
Last Call On Set
As we’ve touched upon, the through-line that links ‘Told You So’ and ‘Never Be Perfect’ together are the minimalist sets. However, while the latter is blasting with smoke and flashing cameras, biding into the whole vibe of a music video, the latter is deconstructing it. The crew packs up lights to leave Loren there by herself. It almost shows the idea that she’s not good enough bleeds into not only her work life but also her personal, and that its the beliefs about herself that she needs to change, being less like someone else for other people and more like who she wants to be.
Perfectionism Is In The Details
The Barbie-associated pink draped across Loren only stands out because of the shoot’s beige background, but as pink flickers into blue, we see that everything’s a ‘show,’ from the crew running into the set to help fix her makeup to the bird-feeding quantity of a donut. The diva-like behavior she exudes in a satirical display of it is so complex for even her to live up to that she begins to show the cracks.
Interestingly, this blue is also highlighted in ‘Never Be Perfect,’ only colored in on Loren’s eyelids as makeup. Our eyes still go directly to it as the rest of her is a muted look with wet, natural hair and an unbuttoned boyfriend shirt that hangs off her left shoulder blade. It presents the same feeling that as much as she’s trying to be one thing, her imperfections will always come through.
How Many Times Did Loren Watch Supernatural’s ‘Wishful Thinking?’
For all you Supernatural hunters, the drunken bear the Winchesters dealt with seems to have a twin whose also going through a midlife crisis, appearing in both ‘Never Be Perfect’ and ‘Told You So’ and thus linking the two music videos together. As we’ve stated, it could literally embody Loren’s perfectionism. For example, in the ‘Told You So’ music video, the bear acts as the director, yawning at times, telling her to stop in others, and being so judgmental that it makes sense that this is how she sees herself concerning her work. Everyone can be their own worst critic at times, after all!
While in ‘Never Be Perfect,’ the bear appears from the minute we click play on the video, showing up skulking around the set until it picks up a bag that could be symbolic of a suitcase, and what does this exactly mirror? An ex who possibly left Loren behind. Though the bear does make another appearance towards the end when a door appears, pulling her through it. If we conspire to link these two music videos even more, we could even guess that ‘Never Be Perfect’ comes before ‘Told You So.’ The bear pulls Loren into the other fabricated world—the music video set! The light through the door is so bright that it matches the camera-lit tones.
We Don’t Feel Guilty About Listening to Loren Gray!
‘Never Be Perfect’ and ‘Told You So’ are both off Loren’s album Guilty, which will be hitting all streaming services come April 21st, but in the meantime, you can stream its singles here! Do you see any more comparisons between these two tracks? Let us know by tagging our Twitter @thehoneypop!
For more pop hits to fill your confidence playlists, scroll through our Instagram and Facebook pages!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LOREN GRAY:
INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE
