On Wednesday, Oct. 10, Camila Cabello revealed her highly-anticipated music video for the final song, “Consequences” (Orchestra), from her self-titled album that debuted way back in January of this year. This video arrived just hours after Camila racked up four American Music Awards and sang “Consequences” dressed in a princess ball gown with a full orchestra on live television. Judging by the music video’s number nine spot on YouTube’s trending list and almost three million views just days after its unveiling, it seems to be another win for Cabello’s ever-expanding trophy case.
The music video for “Consequences” begins innocently enough, with Cabello strolling down a warm tree-lined and autumn leave-strewn walkway reminiscing on a past lover, portrayed by Dylan Sprouse, who appears in front of her as a translucent memory of the past. Cabello’s beloved plays the grand piano and her former-self sits lovingly beside him, before her present-self steps through the illusion causing the pleasant image to vanish into sparkling air.
Several more flashbacks of Cabello’s and Sprouse’s characters kissing and dancing play out in front of the sorrowful singer before the memories turn from warm and sweet to haunting. The park gets dark and becomes blanketed in snow while Cabello dejectedly watches from the sidelines as the ghostly figures argue, seeing their relationship swiftly fall apart.
In the final moments of the music video, Cabello sings, “loving you had consequences” to the ghost of her ex-flame before she takes his hand and spins into the night—the moon as a backdrop to their love story. Once back on the ground, Sprouse’s character bursts into a flurry of sparkles as he disappears for good and Cabello tearfully takes a seat on the bench where the ghost of her past-self holds her hand before vanishing as well.
“My videos are pretty much what the inside of my brain looks like. This is what it looked like in my brain while I was trying to move on,” Cabello spoke to her followers on Twitter after the video was released. “Thank you, Dylan Sprouse, for being amazing and wanting to be in my video.” Cabello also took to Instagram a few days prior to the release to comment on the risk she was taking by making a ballad like “Consequences,” a single at all. Cabello told her followers, “People always want you to go with a song that sounds like something that’s already on the radio.” Cabello went on to explain that her aim is to challenge herself by showing her fans the “most honest representation” of who she is through her music. Cabello even went as far as saying that the music video for “Consequences” is the one that she’s most proud of.
It seems as though Camila made the right decision. Make sure to watch the music video for yourself.