Every Easter Egg in Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Brutal’ Music Video
Former Disney Channel star Olivia Rodrigo has had immense success with her transition from acting to singing. Her debut song ‘Driver’s License‘ catapulted her to mainstream fame, and she has been unstoppable ever since. The singer recently released a music video for ‘Brutal’, the first song on her debut album.
The song provides a depiction of teenage anger and female rage at being told what to do. It contains several Easter Eggs from nods to her inspiration Taylor Swift to lyrics from her other songs. Here is every Easter Egg contained in Rodrigo’s ‘Brutal’ music video.
The opening sequence mirrors Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’
The ‘Brutal’ music video opens with the singer standing against an animated cityscape backdrop surrounded by ballerinas. When the music starts, Rodrigo’s ankle snaps, and she drops to the ground looking up at the other ballerinas uncomfortably.
The opening sequence looks familiarly similar to Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ video from her 1989 album. In the video, Swift tries to fit in with several dance groups, including ballerinas. In one scene, she is seen seated on the floor while the other women carry on with their movements.
Olivia Rodrigo’s advertisement on the video
In one scene, Rodrigo wears an orange bob wig in a silver two-piece outfit holding a blue beverage while looking miserable. The scene portrays the capitalist sentiment she sings in the song, saying she feels exploited. The filter on the singer’s face also resembles fresh cuts or cracks.
The scene seemingly looks like one from Rina Sawayama’s ‘XS’ video, where her character sells an orange drink. In the end, Sawayama’s character is revealed to be a robot advertising a drink taken from the neck of a creature in chains.
The Instagram story filters used throughout the video
The social media age has brought about the conversation of body positivity and embracing one’s features. Many influencers, especially on Instagram, have received backlash for their extensive use of filters that many believe promote unrealistic standards.
Some of the filters include face smoothing filters that make one seem fresh-faced no matter the time of day. Rodrigo’s ‘Brutal’ video contains several such effects that look like Instagram filters to indicate that not everything you see is real.
Rodrigo’s Instagram username in ‘Brutal’
Throughout the song, Olivia Rodrigo goes on a live stream with her character’s username being @spicypiscesnyc. The singer was born in February 2003, and her zodiac sign is Pisces. Her Instagram bio has the name ‘Spicy Pisces’ which finds its way into the music video.
The live comments
Although Rodrigo’s Instagram live might be fake, the comments in the video are from real people, and they contain several clues. As Insider reports, people involved in the ‘Brutal’ video left their comments, including the video’s director Petra Collins whose comment included three emojis. Actor Lukas Gage (the boy sitting with the singer) also left a comment citing the song’s bridge.
The lyrics are everywhere
‘Brutal’ contains product placement of sorts with its lyrics. In one scene, Rodrigo stands inside a mall staring at two posters of herself. In one of the posters, she is seen advertising the blue drink with the orange wig from an earlier scene. The poster contains the words ‘Golden Years’ with an ominous slogan that says, “Do you have the guts to enjoy it?”
The poster is a sign to the lyrics, “They say these are the golden years/ But I wish I could disappear.” The other poster contains her in a blue wig advertising lipstick with a logo similar to the brand Yves Saint Laurent that says ‘Enjoy Your Youth’. The poster also references her lyrics, “If someone tells me one more time/ Enjoy your youth, I’m going to cry.
The final ballerina scene
In the video’s final scene, Olivia Rodrigo stands in traffic surrounded by ballerinas on top of cars. Their coordinated movements can be likened to Kanye West’s ‘Runaway’ music video.
