Today, Carly Rae Jepsen released the music video for her new single, “Boy Problems.” The video is an ‘80s dream come true—complete with glittery streamers, a giant pink prom dress with puff sleeves, and some low-tech split screen graphics.

Genius spoke to “Boy Problems” director and photographer Petra Collins about casting her best friends, finding inspiration in ‘90s dark comedies, and why she wasn’t an extra in the video.

How did you and Carly first link up?

Petra Collins: For me, EMOTION was one of the best pop albums of the year. I became completely obsessed with “Boy Problems.” When I heard it I was just like, “OK, i’m going to do the music video for this.” I planned it all out in my head and then forced my agents to get in touch with her management.

What did you think of when you first heard the song? What were some of your initial ideas?

Petra Collins: I right away thought of all those ‘90s girl music videos. I instantly pictured all of these different scenes with girls on the phone—a super campy scene where they’re working or doing whatever and they get a really annoying call from their friend.

My favorite genre of movies are ‘90s dark comedies and horror movies. I love Heathers and Citizen Ruth. I think that sort of comedic timing is so amazing. Those dark comedies had a really good tone and amazing colors. I don’t like being fully serious, ever.

Tell us about the coffin selfie.

Petra Collins: I love how movies like Jawbreaker deal with death—it’s very comedic. In my own life, and in a lot of people’s lives, the end of a relationship can feel like the end of the world. You put it over your friends and everything else. There’s the line in the song where she sings, “I got worse problems,” and I loved the idea of a girl singing that in a coffin.

What about the ‘80s office?

Petra Collins: I wanted to have a funny Working Girl vibe. All the girls were so funny in that scene—Tavi was making me laugh the whole time. A lot of the inspiration comes from me really wanting to create these crazy sets. I love '80s offices. There’s this one photo I saw of an office with a crazy insane sunset in the background. It was so cool to see such a weird sterile room with a beautiful thing outside of it. I loved the idea of these girls having to take a super annoying call from Carly when they’re doing their work.

Carly goes from a dark bedroom in the beginning of the video to a gold and pink dance party at the end. How does color factor into the video?

Petra Collins: I’m a super visual person, so for me, color signifies change in mood. I wanted her to go from this really shitty room to something that was fun for her.

I also got to make my ultimate fantasy set—something with a glittery ‘70s vibe. I took a video of myself while we were on set. I wanted to be an extra in the scene. I even put the outfit on. But I just couldn’t take my eyes off the screen because it looked so good.