Olivia Rodrigo Drops New Music Video: ‘Brutal’
Image Courtesy: Billboard
Olivia Rodrigo dropped her latest music video on 23rd August and like the name (Brutal) suggests, the song brings out the brutal realities of teenage life. The video begins with Rodrigo and her Tiffany Blue ballet troupe delicately dancing to the violin intro of the song, before the 18-year-old crashes down to reality and sings, “I want it to be, like, messy.”
With facial animations and stickers resembling the ones she wore on the cover of her Billboard 200-topping album Sour and a multitude of multicolored wigs, Rodrigo represents the sheer fun of being young. But no matter how much she overindulges in it, there are too many stiff reminders of how fleeting the “golden years” are. And don’t even mention parallel parking, since a cacophonous chorus of car honking and yelling — to which Rodrigo responds to by mouthing at the camera, “What the f—?!” — erupts mid-song.
Euphoria and The White Lotus actor Lukas Gage appears as Olivia Rodrigo’s fellow newscaster.
A reluctant Rodrigo is seen promoting a blue drink while wearing an orange wig and a silver two-piece outfit. Doing so she sings, “And I’m so tired that I might / Quit my job, start a new life / And they’d all be so disappointed / ‘Cause who am I if not exploited?”
According to Insider, Rodrigo’s influencer character uses the Instagram handle @spicypiscesnyc. She was born on February 20, 2003, which makes her a Pisces. Her Instagram bio even says “spicy pisces.” The sign is typically characterized as sensitive and intuitive. Several people left comments on her Instagram when she went live, this includes Nico Hiraga (@nicotheduffer) who is earlier seen in Rodrigo’s bedroom. He writes, “Learn to parallel park,” which is a reference to a lyric in Brutal (“I’m not cool and I’m not smart / And I can’t even parallel park”).
Image Courtesy: Teen Vogue
Gage (@lukasgage) writes, “god it’s brutal out here.”
Petra Collins (@petrafcollins), who directed the video, comments with three emojis: an eye, a red heart, and the No. 1.
Several of the comments in Rodrigo’s fake live stream are references to other songs on Sour, including Good 4 U, Traitor and Hope Ur OK.
Image Courtesy: USA Today
Rodrigo finds herself in an empty mall, staring at two posters. One is advertising the blue drink from the earlier scene, which is apparently called Golden Years. The slightly ominous slogan reads, “Do you have the guts to enjoy it?”
This is a reference to the song lyrics, “They say these are the golden years / But I wish I could disappear.”
The other poster appears to advertise a lipstick called “Enjoy Your Youth.” This is a reference to another part of the song, “If someone tells me one more time / ‘Enjoy your youth,’ I’m gonna cry.”
In the second verse of the song Rodrigo sings, “I only have two real friends.” In the video, two girls grab her by the arms and march her through the mall. They also sit in the front seats of her car.
Image Courtesy: Coup De Main Magazine
One is played by Salem Mitchell, who has also appeared in music videos and fashion campaigns for artists like SZA, Cardi B, Rihanna, and Beyoncé. The other is identified on Instagram with the username @alientits. Her page does not include her real name, but her followers include Mitchell and Collins.
Watch Olivia Rodrigo’s Brutal below:
-Aditi
