THE DEJA VU PROJECT
MAY 2021
MAY 2021
I don't really know why, but Deja Vu by Olivia Rodrigo is basically my favorite song. Something about her flawless vocals paired with the dreamy melody and chaotic undertones just screams endless summer. The music video did not disappoint either: Petra Collins, the director, told a vivid story of a girl (Olivia) who has been easily replaced. She walks through an old house right off the highway lining the coast of Malibu and reminisces the memories she shared with her past lover - only to find he is currently doing the same things with a new girl. More so than the storyline, the video mezmerized me by the amount of detail packed in each scene. After watching it over around 10 times and carefully dissecting every scene, I came up with a list of little objects and symbols that were scattered throughout. SOUR has a strong sticker theme going on, inspiring me to go a step further in this same direction with my Deja Vu analysis.
"Strawberry ice cream, one spoon for two...." There was both a blue and pink spoon featured in the video, so I decdied to go ahead and include both.
A cream colored convertible Olivia drove down the highway. Very vintage, and an interesting scene to include considering she just earned her driver's license.
Filler stickers. Inspired from some flower stickers on her face on the album cover. Also, brightly colored flowers and ivy grew unhibited on the exterior of the house in the video.
The sunglasses, bandana, and boa all featured early in the video. Olivia wore the sunglasses and the bandana as she drove in her car, and saw the new girl wearing the boa as she walked inside the house. I reallyyyy wanted to include the iconic green dress, but it just didn't seem to have a place in the whole sticker collage pictured below.
This mirror was used in a scene where the camera would quickly move from Olivia looking at her reflection to the other girl looking at her reflection.
Filler stickers. Inspired from the rhinestone stickers on her face on the album cover. A little bit of sparkle/glitter is very on brand for Olivia's art.
Olivia's journal, which had some colored feathers near it. Honestly, I did not catch this in the video myself, but I saw her selling it on her Depop pop up shop and the caption mentioned it was indeed in this video. I think composition books have also become a symbol of Olivia's album.
The house has a room of stacked, box television playing scenes of the new girl running through Malibu beaches, prompting Olivia to rewind and watch herself do the same things. Towards the end, she grows frustrated with the new girl's persistence in the screens and uses an axe to dramatically destroy the televisions.
Filler stickers. Most of Olivia's songs are about love and heartbreak, so I can argue that its only fitting to include little heart shaped stickers. Also, there were similar stickers on a playing card in one scene.
A polaroid and ace of hearts playing card jammed into the side of the vanity. The polaroid picture is the same as the one on the SOUR album cover.
Filler stickers. I feel like butterflies are just a well established symbol of Olivia's personality and the SOUR album as a whole.
Filler stickers. Inspired from the sad face vibe of the SOUR album and the stickers on her face on the album cover.
A palm tree I decided to include just because it is in Malibu, California. I also wanted to add in ocean waves or something, but I couldn't quite find a place for it. Also, without the green dress, the collection of stickers was lacking green.
I saw an article earlier (which I cannot find anymore) about how the stained glass part of the window in the house used red, yellow, and blue, which are the colors of the Filipino flag. We love some good representation in the music industry!
Filler stickers. Inspired from some star stickers on her face on the album cover. Stars will never go out of style.
All the other stickers I wanted to include. Some of these are inspired by the stickers decorating Olivia's face on the album cover and other photos I found on Twitter, others are purely from imagination.
Aaand here's the final product of all the stickers collaged together, around the iconic words "Do You Get Deja Vu" in a retro font I found on Pinterest. I thought the pink and blue colors that I used for the words just looked so appealing and bubblegum-esque. At the end of the day, there were definitely other objects I could have incorporated in this collage (I really regret not doing more of Olivia's jewelery throughout the video!), but arranging everything I already had in a "perfectly messy" way was a challenge and I don't want to introduce any new elements. I hope you wish you had these irl as much as I do :,)
