Olivia Rodrigo has revealed she felt the presence of spirits while filming her latest music video inside the Palace of Versailles, describing the experience as both special and “a little creepy”.
The singer shared the story during an appearance on The Capital Evening Show with Jimmy Hill, where she discussed her new album, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, and the making of the video for her latest single, Drop Dead.
Jimmy praised the ambitious video, which was filmed inside the world-famous French palace after Rodrigo’s long-held dream of shooting there became a reality.
Talking about securing the historic location, Olivia admitted it had originally seemed impossible.
“It started as kind of a pipe dream of ‘oh, that could be cool one day if I could go and visit Versailles.’ And it turned into us having the palace all night and being able to film a whole video in it. It was really, really special,” she revealed.
Despite being thrilled by the opportunity, Olivia said spending hours inside the vast palace after dark created an eerie atmosphere.
When Jimmy asked if it felt scary, she admitted there was something unsettling about the experience.
“It was a little and a little creepy. I kind of believe in ghosts and I’d feel like if I was a ghost I’d probably want to haunt the halls of Versailles,” she admitted.
Jimmy agreed the palace seemed like the kind of place that could inspire ghost stories, prompting Olivia to add: “For sure! I definitely felt some spirits there.”
The singer also revealed how a key part of her album campaign nearly unravelled before fans ever saw it.
As part of the rollout for the new album, she secretly placed padlocks in various cities. However, she said a paparazzi photographer almost exposed the plan while she was installing one in New York.
“There was a paparazzi following me once in New York and we were so scared. We were ducking under tunnels and going crazy like ‘they can’t take a picture of this lock; it is going to ruin the whole rollout.'”
Thankfully, the team managed to keep the stunt under wraps.
Olivia said she enjoyed creating a campaign that encouraged real-world interaction rather than relying entirely on social media.
“It is really fun to do things in real life. I feel like everything right now is so digital and social media based. And so, it is really fun to have part of the rollout that is in person,” she said.
The star also revealed that Paris proved to be the most nerve-racking location of all because of the crowds around one of the city’s biggest landmarks.
“Paris was actually the scariest one because it was right by the Eiffel Tower and there were so many people around. But I was like ‘oh God, please nobody take a picture of me putting this lock on.'”
Fortunately for Olivia, the secrecy held until the campaign launched.
“But it all worked out,” she said.
Olivia also discussed how she and her friends have ‘jury duty’ to discuss relationships….
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