Shakira And Karol G’s New Video References 90s Movie, ‘The Truman Show’
Happy “Karol G Album Release Day,” or as Becky G put it, “Happy día de las BICHOTAS”… you know, for all who celebrate. The Medellin-born star’s latest release “Mañana Será Bonito” is finally here, and let’s just say we’re so excited, we’ll be perreando “Gatúbela”-style all weekend. Adding to the joy, the star’s new music video alongside Shakira for their song “TQG” just dropped, too— and it has all kinds of references including 90s movie “The Truman Show.” Really.
Here’s how 90s movie “The Truman Show” inspired Shakira and Karol G’s new video
As you can see in @Indie5051’s tweet, several accounts quickly realized the connection between the music video and the classic Jim Carrey film. And it’s not just that classic sky-door opening at the end (more on that in a bit!)— the movie clearly inspired several other parts of the video as well.
A bit about “The Truman Show” first. If you haven’t watched it, the 1998 movie follows protagonist Truman Burbank, who has no idea his entire life is live-broadcasted as a reality TV show. Filmed 24/7 and watched by the whole world since birth, Truman eventually comes to realize his entire life is a lie. Chaos ensues, and by the end, he finally reaches the “door” to the outside world. He bumps into a wall disguised as the sky, climbs up the stairs, and exits the “set” of his life. The end of the movie is that Truman is finally free (watch the scene here!).
It becomes obvious how Shakira and Karol G’s clearly find similarities between “The Truman Show” and their lives. As megawatt stars whose faces are plastered on magazines, billboards, and TV screens their every move is watched by people all over the world. Even more so when thinking about their much-reported breakups, whether talking the Shakira-Piqué debacle everyone was talking about, or Karol G and Anuel AA’s ill-fated romance.
Just like Truman, Shakira and Karol G are breaking free from all the lies
From the start of the “TQG” video, we see Karol G and Shakira communicate to us that they sort of feel like “Truman Show” stars themselves. The singers appear on screens all throughout a cityscape, and even on TV screens on a plane. A monitor with several screens shows how they are being filmed, and you can see someone filming Karol G. We see an “ON AIR” sign with a red light, which shows they are being watched live.
The end of the video has the most iconic “Truman Show” reference, showing the two singers in front of a sky-door opening just like in the movie. Similar to how Truman escaped living a lie, Karol G and Shakira are also breaking free from all kinds of “mentiras” — and choosing to live authentically. The music video ends by someone still watching them onscreen, but it’s finally over. Genius.
The lyrics of the song make sense with this, too: the track explains, “Whoever said emptiness is filled with another person lied, it’s like covering a cut with makeup, you can’t see it but you feel it.”
The song continues, “You left saying you’re over me and you have a new girlfriend, what she doesn’t know is that you still see all my [Instagram] stories.” In short, “TQG” is all centered on lies, and showing the world something that just isn’t true.
This is how Twitter is reacting to the unexpected reference
As Twitter user @shannonlada wrote, “‘The Truman Show’ describes the farce lived by Jim Carrey’s characterr in the eyes of the entire world.” They continued, “Shakira and Karol G seem to associate the movie with everything they lived in their relationships. At the end, they finally saw reality. They’re free.”
Fellow Twitter user @Pedropablolt agreed: “How many relationships aren’t based on an exhibition show that ends up being fake.”
There’s also another built-in reference in the “TQG” music video— Shakira’s “Beautiful Liar” video alongside Beyoncé. Several scenes throughout the video reminded fans of Shakira and Beyoncé dancing together back in 2006. In fact, both videos feature references to the natural world. While the video with Karol G is all about fire and ice, “Beautiful Liar” brings in the sky and rain. The visuals are extremely similar, though:
Even more, fans immediately connected another aspect of the new video to “Beautiful Liar”— the outfits. Just like Beyonce and Shakira danced together in black costumes back in the 2000s, this decade’s dynamic duo do the same. We are obsessed with all of the references in “TQG”— hats off to the director Pedro Artola!
