Daiana Feuer on March 8th, 2016

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Mistress of pop Alex Lilly makes her video director/editor debut here, splicing footage of friends and strangers singing her new song, “Photogenic Life,” into their cellphones. It’s an absorbing video, playing into our weakness for consuming other people’s selfies and video vignettes. Perhaps it’s the man dancing in his bedroom taking off his shirt with a whisky bottle on the desk, or the guys wearing sunglasses in the shower, or Inara George on the toilet, or the random cute children; it’s all of it together, like scrolling through Instagram without having to move your finger.

“Photogenic Life” is a new song from a to-be-released EP recorded with producer Michael Andrews, whose music and film scores include “Donnie Darko” and “Me, You and Everyone We Know.” Last year Lilly played Andrews all her latest demos and as an afterthought showed him “Photogenic Life,” and it ended up being the first song they recorded.

“The spark for the song came after a friend of mine admitted that her brain had begun auditioning any beautiful or interesting view as a potential post on Instagram. I laughed at her and then admitted the same thing,” says Lilly. Comparing our lives with others’ carefully curated social identities creates a distorted reality, where we constantly see if our experiences qualify as interesting or good-looking enough to be shared. “I don’t lead a ‘photogenic life’ because I tend not to look that good when I’m having fun,” she adds. “I’m red in the face maybe laughing and/or eating and I probably don’t know where my phone is. Also I don’t DJ on yachts nearly often enough.” Think about it, isn’t it difficult to look pretty when you’re actually happy? This one goes out to your ugly but delicious breakfast and smiling too big in photos.

||| Watch: “Photogenic Life”