In Lee Ann Womacks inventive and heartbreaking new video Hollywood, two plastic dolls in the stop-motion-animated clip play stand-ins for live actors, but the anguish of a faltering relationship is no less real as Womack sings, Every time I ask you, you just say were good/Either Im a fool for asking or you belong in Hollywood.
Penned by Womack with Waylon Payne and Adam Wright, the doleful tune is accompanied by scenes of the artificial couple in a motel room, driving through L.A. and the California desert and passing iconic landmarks. While the song itself doesnt offer a specific outcome for the couple, the videos conclusion is more definitive.
If I hadnt have liked that ending, I would have changed it, Womack told Refinery29 of the final act, which puts even more distance between the two characters. I think different people will get different things out of it. We also talked about having her kill him. [Laughs] There were a lot of different possible endings.
Hollywood is the latest single from The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone, which earned Grammy nominations for Best Americana Album and Best Americana Roots Song for the lead single All the Trouble, also written by Womack with Payne and Wright.
Playing off the Tinseltown theme of the video, Womack teased the clips premiere with a series of Hollywood movie posters on social media. They featured comical quotes from Reba McEntire (Lee Ann is almost as good as Chris Gaines), Willie Nelson (Hollywood? Isnt she from Texas) and Brothers Osborne (We hoped shed dance), among others.