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SALT LAKE CITY — Singer Colbie Caillat’s new music video sent a message loud and clear to women all over the world: Stop hiding beneath makeup and Photoshop because you are fine the way you are.
“Try” was released as part of Caillat’s new EP, “Gypsy Heart.” Caillat told Elle she has felt pressure to “be someone that I’m not — both musically and image-wise.” In an effort to combat that, she created the music video to fight against unrealistic expectations for women.
“It’s so true that you can go so far down the rabbit hole of altering yourself to where you’re not happy anymore,” Caillat told Elle. “I don’t have Photoshop on my album cover. At the video shoots, I’m doing less hair and makeup. For the ‘Try’ video, I didn’t prep or starve myself and over- exercise. And then I didn’t get my nails done, I didn’t get my hair done. I didn’t get a facial. I didn’t have a stylist.”
The video shows several women with beautifully styled hair and makeup that is slowly stripped away to reveal their natural, real beauty. Caillat ends the video with the lyrics, “Take your makeup off. Let your hair down. Take a breath. Look into the mirror at yourself. Don’t you like you? ‘Cause I like you.”
In an era of Photoshop and airbrushing, Caillat said she has struggled with always trying to look perfect.
“My favorite was the woman who has no hair,” Caillat said. “I first saw her completely bald, no makeup, with a huge smile, she was just so happy and confident. She was so beautiful to me. And then we kept getting more hair and makeup on, and the next scene I saw where she’s in full makeup and wig, I was like, ‘Who is this woman? ’ She was not the same person. She still looked beautiful but it wasn’t the same beauty that I saw when she was liberated, showing who she really was.”
The powerful message portrayed by the video has made headlines and after being posted to YouTube on July 8, it has since been viewed over 7 million times.
