Just when one thought that the most unlikely trio of the year would by Shygirl, PinkPantheress and Isabella Lovestory with “True Religion,” it turns out that LISA, Doja Cat and RAYE had their own “back pocket” collab to unleash as well. Called “Born Again,” it marks the fourth single from LISA’s debut solo album, Alter Ego (which will end up competing with fellow Blackpink member JENNIE’s own debut, Ruby [perhaps the name of her alter ego], to be released two weeks after). The theme of the song is, like LISA’s previous singles for the record (except maybe “Moonlit Floor [Kiss Me]”), one of empowerment and transformation. That and, well, as LISA put it, “Essentially, the girls are saying that their ex missed out on the best sex of his life by losing them. They could have been ‘born again’ through having sex with Lisa, Raye and Doja but they missed their chance.”
Which is why LISA and RAYE waste no time in making that point clear with the opening verse, “If you tried just a little more times [try to ignore the grammatical incorrectness]/I would’ve made you a believer/Would’ve showed you what it’s like (I would’ve showed you)/Every single night.” Alas, being that most men (read: boys) these days have both the attention span of a gnat and the appreciation for sex of an amoeba, it tracks that the person LISA, RAYE and Doja are addressing wouldn’t have been patient enough to fully understand and revere the majesty of the carnal pleasures being offered.
As for the video, it’s directed by Bardia Zeinali, who’s been having a bit of a moment lately between also directing Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and Tate McRae’s “Sports Car.” Zeinali opens this particular video with the image of a grandfather clock (shot in black and white), its hands winding backward (how very Cher-coded) before cutting to a title card that features the song’s name and an accompanying definition beneath it. That definition being: “The transformation into a New Woman who embraces her freedom to become the person she desires to be.” Which infers that, while carrying the dead weight of the bloke that she keeps addressing on the song, she wasn’t able to become that person until losing him. Even if he was the one with the audacity to ditch her.
After the title card transitions to LISA briefly in black and white, the scene turns to color, as though to emphasize that this is a whole new era—and one of far greater vibrancy. Even if the world that listeners are actually living in at present hardly mirrors such symbolism. Soon, LISA is no longer in the frame alone, joined by RAYE and Doja in matching 1920s-inspired ensembles that scream both, “Glamor!” and “Haute couture!” What’s more, the array of “period” costumes speaks to what LISA said of the visuals on her Instagram: “This video is a tribute to powerful women throughout history and to all of you.” Powerful women who were nonetheless forced to suffer the foolishness of men who took their greatness for granted. That is, until such women had to pull the rip cord and make good on the adage that “you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.” Hence, LISA goading her ex, “A little bit of ‘look at what you had but could not hold’/And that’s on you, baby, too bad/I’m about to make it heard as I vroom vroom [how Charli XCX]/Ice cold how I leave you ‘lone, but please/Tell your mother I’ma miss her so [said no ex-girlfriend ever]).”
Produced by RAYE and Andrew Wells, the disco-y sound of the track is complemented by lyrics that play up the religious angle of the “born again” connotation—complete with the invoking of Jesus’ name in the lyrics, “If you stayed just another few nights/I could’ve made you pray to Jesus/Would’ve showed you the light/Every single night.” In the video, however, the divine is emphasized through the feminine form, whether it’s a nude statue that Zeinali keeps cutting to or LISA showing off her moves on a balance beam and some gymnastics rings.
In the next scene, Doja gets her own religious moment by way of appearing in her take on a nun’s ensemble as she delivers such “spiritual” verses as, “Non-believer/You’ve bitten from the fruit but can’t give back/Nice to leave ya/But I would be a fool not to ask/Do your words seem gospel to ya now?” and “I can’t be your sugar mom, get a job for me, shit/Boy, let go/Or let me live happily forever after more/I hope you learned somethin’ from a lil’ fiasco.” Affecting a very 90s R&B tone as she sings some of these lines, Doja stands in the center of a circle of chairs with a giant overhead light that gives her a “halo glow” with intercut shots of her in a more “harlot-y” outfit while bound by rope to a stripper pole of a witch’s stake to be burned on (this includes the coals beneath her). All while she schools this ex of hers on the error of his ways. Practically as faux pas-laden as Eve taking a bite out of the apple (thus, the fruit reference)—even though everyone knows that she took the fall for what was likely Adam’s first move.
The biblical motif persists in another setup for LISA, this time in a “Garden of Eden” stylized by Zeinali. Outfitted in a black lacy number as she lounges on a bench beneath her very own Tree of Knowledge, LISA caresses a pile of variously-colored apples in front of her, picking up a red one and bringing it dangerously close to her lips (though she’s never shown actually biting out of it). Zeinali then pans out to reveal that the tree above her is upside down—perhaps an indication that biblical interpretations are “topsy-turvy” now that they’re being presented through a woman’s perspective.
Switching gears to black and white again, Zeinali then features RAYE in a scene among a sea of what appears to be white magnolias (at times almost looking like a riff on that infamous fantasy from American Beauty [but without the roses]—especially during the instant when RAYE lies down amid the pool of flowers and starts writhing around). Which would make sense considering the biblical significance of the magnolia in the Bible and its rootedness in Christianity. And it is amongst these magnolias that RAYE at last gets her true moment to shine on the bridge of the song, crooning, “Seasoned like the cinnamon/The way I’m gettin’ rid of him/I’m only gonna make you need religion at the minimum/And I’ma do it diligent, I’m lookin’ for a synonym/I’m tryna find the words to tell him I ain’t even feelin’ him (I pray)/Don’t ever let me be deficient in/Wish that you could wake up and then take me like a vitamin [how Lana Del Rey on “Radio”]/I learned the hard way to let go now to save my soul.” And yes, there is something to the idea that a woman’s soul can only be saved if she prevents herself from giving too much of it away to an unappreciative “boo.”
Pulling a Christina Aguilera as she lays on the “soooo-o-ulllll” at the end of the bridge, RAYE is then joined by her sisters in religious imagery—this time with all three outfitted in what amounts to “warrior” a.k.a. “warrior princess” garb (particularly Doja, sporting something like a medieval chainmail flourish). Granted, with a “but make it fashion” twist (obviously). The trio then approaches a giant rock, stands in front of it and beats her respective chest as if to say, “I’m a bad bitch, hear me roar.”
Needless to say, the rock, too, is yet another biblical symbol related to transformation and resurrection (a.k.a. rebirth). After all, it was a giant rock that got “rolled away” from Jesus’ tomb after he was resurrected. So yeah, this “holy trinity” is more than fairly committed to their “GCB” (Good Christian Bitch) message. Even if their “teachings” are more about schooling fuckboys in what they’ve lost than loving thy neighbor as thyself.
