Meaning of “Bad Liar” by Selena Gomez
When “Bad Liar” first came out, a lot of people initially misinterpreted the song as one that was talking about a break-up. This mass interpretation of the song forced one of the song’s writers Justin Tranter to take to the social networking site Twitter to explain the actual meaning of the lyrics.
In his Twitter post, Tranter said of the song as one that tells the story of a person trying their best to hide their real feelings for someone they like but failing woefully in their attempts. From the lyrics, Gomez can be heard clearly talking about her overwhelming feelings for her love interest and her inability to hide or control the feelings.
But her inability to prevent the feelings she has for her crush from overtaking her ends up making her a “bad liar”.
Our favorite line from the song “Bad Liar”
There are many beautiful lines from the lyrics of Bad Liar, but our favorite happens to be the line: “With my feelings on fire…Guess I’m a bad liar”
Quick Facts about “Bad Liar”
- The song was written by Selena Gomez along with songwriters Justin Tranter, Ian Kirkpatrick and Julia Michaels. And since the song was written over the bassline of Talking Heads’ hit song “Psycho Killer”, the writers of “Psycho Killer” also receive songwriting credits on “Bad Liar”. These writers in question include the following Talking Heads members: Tina Weymouth, David Byrne and Chris Frantz.
- “Bad Liar” was produced by the song’s co-writer Ian Kirkpatrick. Over the years, Kirkpatrick has worked with famous artists such as Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Britney spears. He also produced Gomez’s first single of 2018 titled “Back to You“.
- “Bad Liar” was officially released on 18th May, 2017. The music video, which also came out on 18th May, 2017, was premiered on Spotify. It made history by becoming the first music video to be premiered on Spotify.
- The song became Gomez’s first solo single since she released the single Revival in 2015.
- It’s important to mention that Imagine Dragons also released a single titled “Bad Liar” in 2018.
Drummer Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads, who along with the other members of Talking heads had initially given permission to Gomez to sample the song, said in a post on Facebook that he was so delighted to hear the legacy of Talking Heads’ trademark song “Psycho Killer” being introduced to a new generation of listeners. In his Facebook post, Frantz also included a quote from bassist Tina Weymouth, which read: “It’s good to be appreciated”.
Weymouth played the memorable bass line of “Psycho Killer”. It is worth noting that the lyrics of “Psycho Killer” tackle a totally different topic. While “Bad Liar” talks about the subject of love, “Psycho Killer” deals with the thoughts of a brutal serial killer.
