Above is, according to Billboard, the official and self-directed video for Barbra Streisand’s “Don’t Lie to Me,” the first single from her forthcoming album of (mostly) new material, Walls (out November 2).


(Now I’m going to take you aside and whisper loudly enough so that I’m not, like, breathing into your ear canal but quietly enough so that Babs can’t hear us: This seems more like a “lyric video” than an official video, but I guess if legends write the rules, they can rewrite them, too.)

While this is a very earnest song about the bigot whose complete political apathy about the environment will end up playing a direct role in the imminent collapse of civilization (Trump), I am nonetheless slightly amused while imagining what exactly went into directing this. Did Barbra learn Premiere? Did she spend all day looking for that footage of Obama wiping away a tear, the perfect crumbling glacier, the most ominous smoke stack? Did she ever worry about being too on the nose, or did she just figure fuck it, protest needs to be as obvious as possible to be ingested by the masses?


I really want the behind-the-scenes video of this video.

Regarding this song, Barbra told Billboard in November:

“The Liar in Chief, the Groper in Chief. Yeah, I’ve written many articles about this… this person… who has no manners, insults everybody, makes fun of disabled people. I don’t know what to say, I’ve written like 15 Huffington Post pieces. This way my way to do my record, because what else could I think about? It’s my protest, in a sense, about this unprecedented time in our history. What it says about America. We have to give up the electoral college system, that’s what I know. I think people should vote for the president of the United Status – the popular vote should count. Give people a voice; one vote, one voice.”

She sings, she blogs, she makes powerful political video clips. Barbra Streisand is just like any modern, internet-savvy individual, except she’s also perfect.