girli Has 'Imposter Syndrome'

“I’m so paranoid that everybody hates me/ Wear a big smile when it’s in style,” girli sings in the single’s music video over a breakfast of eggs, toast and ketchup reading “Fraud” as a circus ensemble of diner characters steal glances at the superstar.

Becoming more surreal by the second, the crowd of eccentric on-lookers jeer and scowl at girli, pushing her from the trippy diner into a dark alley, where she dodges the spotlight, finding herself swarmed by a crowd of real-life fans protesting the pop star.

Signs reading “FAKE” push against girli as the mob grows volatile, silently mouthing “fake,” “fraud” and intelligible screams under girli’s anthem.

Related | Calling All GIRLI Girlies

As the visual closes, the crowd dissipates in a cloud of smoke and girli finds herself alone, begging the question of how much of the raucous scene was imagined by the singer herself, creating characters of her intrusive thoughts as if building her reality from smoke.

Milly Toomey (AKA girli) has been on a journey of self-discovery, which comes out through “Imposter Syndrome” and previous single “I Really F**ked It Up,” arriving at the conclusion that she will always surprise herself — and it’s okay to not know what comes next.

“I was overthinking everything, feeling like a fake, scared that I was an underachiever and that everybody knew it and was laughed behind my back about it,” girli says. “I kind of go through life feeling like everybody else has a guidebook, and I’m just making it up as I go and getting it wrong. This song is about wanting to run away because of that feeling and being so unsure of yourself it scares you.”

Facing her fears head on, girli is gearing up for her first US tour with three headline shoes, a SXSW performance and supporting alt-J, and prepping for her forthcoming why am i like this?? EP.

Photo courtesy of Monika Wilczynska