Dove Cameron Knows Her Roe v. Wade -Inspired 'Breakfast' Music Video Is 'Uncomfortable' to Watch

Dove Cameron re-shot her "Breakfast" music video following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Released earlier this week, Cameron's compelling, visually Mad Men-inspired "Breakfast" video flips gender norms upside-down, as she portrays an ultra-confident businesswoman who lacks sympathy for a male assistant who leaves the office to get an abortion. However, that wasn't always its plot.

Upon dropping the cynical, anti-romantic alt-pop single about eating boys for breakfast in June, the 26-year-old singer and actress was preparing to release a "beautiful" and "campier" music video. But the SCOTUS decision was announced the same week, and suddenly Cameron felt unable to continue working on the clip.

"I just started to feel like I was falling into the black abyss of depression," she tells PEOPLE. "Emotionally, I was super checked out."

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While simultaneously filming Season 2 of AppleTV+'s Schmigadoon!, Cameron asked her team at Columbia Records for a "couple weeks" off from the "Breakfast" promotional cycle to focus on her mental health. Not only did the label oblige, but CEO Ron Perry offered her the opportunity to conceptualize and film another music video more aligned with her state of mind at the time.

"That was really how the video was born," says Cameron of the Lauren Dunn-directed clip. "It was all based in me feeling completely desolate, wanting to connect with women on a larger scale and hoping that the conversation could be broadened."

Kristen Jan Wong Dove Cameron

As an artist with an especially large platform — over 48 million Instagram followers and counting — she felt compelled to meet the moment. "I think if you're an artist who has a message, you have an absolute duty and responsibility to do everything that you can with your skill, your avenue and that message."

The "Breakfast" video's imagery of apathetic executives and male abortions is accompanied by Cameron as a traditionally feminine, picture-perfect 1950s telemarketer selling cleaning products to men and encouraging they get their wives' permission to order. At the end of the clip, the businesswoman character is snapped into reality as she watches the real-life SCOTUS news on television.

"It's uncomfortable to watch at parts, and that was the aim," says Cameron, who recalls discussing the possibility of toning down the clip's stark and poignant elements with its production team before ultimately deciding to keep them in the final edit.

"I wanted to show people how ludicrous these situations are, and how damaging, limiting, trapping and diminishing it feels to be a woman every day," she explains. "I hope at the end of the video, people look at it and go, 'Oh, wait a minute. That's not just the '50s. That's today. That's yesterday. That's how it's always been, and that's how it is now.'"

Courtesy Columbia Records Dove Cameron

Aspects of the video seem to mirror Cameron's own experiences — particularly the telemarketer character, whose hair is a shade of platinum blonde similar to the former Liv and Maddie and Descendants star's signature locks during her Disney Channel years. Toward the end of "Breakfast," the ultra-femme saleswoman appears trapped in the TV.

"All of the shots of me screaming and saying, 'Can you see me?' and banging on the glass, crying for help — we shot that all in eight minutes," says Cameron. "It was me trying to mime getting out of the TV, and then all of a sudden, I was sobbing... I was like, 'Wow, this is really something that feels very real for me.'"

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Since dyeing her hair dark brown late last year ahead of the February 2022 release of "Boyfriend," Cameron's first single expressing her queer identity, which became her first top-20 Billboard Hot 100 hit, she's described the new look as part of tapping into a more vulnerable side of her artistry. Additionally, the change helped her shed any lingering performative femininity still present as a result of lifelong societal pressures.

"The second I didn't have blonde hair, any sort of interaction was like, 'You used to be hot. What happened?'" she details, noting that she feels the need to "constantly dismantle" the idea of performative femininity.

"I have to remind myself that I own myself. I have autonomy, and I'm not existing just for other people's gaze and approval," adds Cameron. "That is something that women all over the world — and especially the States — right now, are really sharing in and speaking about. We're all trying to dismantle that together, and I find it so inspiring and so sexy."

Expressing herself honestly through physical appearance and soul-baring art like "Breakfast" and its video has improved Cameron's mental health and allowed her to unapologetically exist in society — something she's admittedly struggled with in the past.

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"I was so afraid to take up any sort of room before," she says, citing her coming out process as a contributor to her mental wellbeing. "I had a very low opinion of myself and my worth. I didn't think I was worth listening to. I also had so much internalized shame about being queer that I didn't even really recognize."

Listeners will get to learn even more about Cameron's journey of finding comfort in her identity on her forthcoming debut full-length project.

"The album I'm working on now is all down to finding myself through writing and through expression, and I really owe that to all the people who have been supporting me this last year," she teases. "I consider myself one of the luckiest people on the planet to be able to find myself in this time where it's more important than ever to have a voice."