For those who thought Kylie Minogue, Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo might leave the imagery for the “My Oh My” single solely at their performance together for BST Hyde Park earlier this summer, the trio hasn’t disappointed, bringing fans a right proper video directed by Charlie Di Placido. Despite the director’s Italian last name, the trio has kept it strictly British by opting to film the stately visual accompaniment to the song at Syon House in Brentford.
The West London residence, inhabited by the Duke of Northumberland, appeared to have no qualms about the “Saltburn effect” on the estate. Not, as some naysayers might suggest, because they don’t have faith in the song’s ability to “catch on” (even though it should be way more revered than it currently is), but because the mansion has already been a long-standing haven for filming anyway (most recently, Bridgerton counted itself among other British-oriented pop culture staples, such as Gosford Park and Belgravia, taken with the charm of the mansion). Besides, if Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman taught people anything, it’s that dukes and other “lowlier-than-a-prince” title holders are always strapped for liquid cash, burdened by the inconvenience of their only valuable assets being in the form of property. So why not make a fast pound off said property (in a way that doesn’t involve the manufacture of cannabis)? Especially for a video like this.
Opening with Minogue positioned on a marble “bed” (like some sort of Greek goddess) in front of the famous Apollo Belvedere sculpture, an entourage of dancers surrounds her, all momentarily in “frozen” pose” before they start moving their arms and then their torsos to indicate they’re hardly just more statues who also happen to be at Minogue’s side. As a matter of fact, the dancers stand out not only for their signature movements, but because they’re all dressed in different costumes, which is usually something unheard of in most music videos.
As the song bursts out into the chorus, Di Placido cuts to Minogue and the dancers in another part of the mansion dancing and serving catwalk energy before Rexha’s moment to shine arrives. She, too, is given her own regal “entrance” opportunity, framed by Di Placido with her arm resting against an elaborate column in yet another decadent room. Outfitted in a black evening gown with a plunging neckline and a slit at the thigh (in contrast to Minogue’s more Grecian gold number), Rexha preens for the camera—almost as though to mimic her version of what one of these statues in the palatial residence might do if they actually came to life—while delivering her verse. The one that goes, “Rush of hands, lingering looks/My name in your mouth, that was all it took/Now, yesterday’s light years away/You came in here, now, there’s no goin’ back.” She then adds, “When you asked, ‘What’s your name? Let me know’/I’m Bebe, I’m a Virgo/‘What’s your drink? Let me buy’/You had me when you said, ‘Hi’/Hi.”
The zodiac-centric content of the song might have led some listeners to believe there would be more Gemini/Virgo/Scorpio tropes and/or symbols at play, but, instead, Di Placido places each singer within one of the artful and poetic settings of Syon House. While Minogue gets the most time situated within the various iconic rooms of the space (namely, the conservatory), her presence is actually the most memorable because of the way in which the dancers that encircle her synchronize their choreography while simultaneously managing to look entirely unique and separate from one another.
Though perhaps not as unique as Tove Lo, whose entrance into the fray of this musical narrative is more special than Rexha’s or even Minogue’s. To introduce her part of the song, one of the dancers walks from a hallway and into a room next to a staircase where Tove is perched nearby on a pedestal, her hairstyle courtesy of a brown (and crimped!) Lady Godiva-length wig that complements her own riff on Greek goddess-chic.
“Striking a pose” (yes, Madonna-style) like the women who came before her in this video, Tove “unfreezes” soon enough to relish her own spotlight—working the staircase as she flexes with her Scorpio-touting verse. The trio then converges upon one another in the same room where Minogue initially started out, the Apollo Belvedere sculpture now standing over all three of them.
The dancers, meanwhile, continue to strut around them before this scene becomes intercut with one of Minogue (sans her two “backup singers”) standing/dancing in a massive hallway where a long line of dancers flanks her on either side. This is the image that concludes the video, with Minogue “breaking character” after a few “frozen pose” seconds to bop around wildly, laughing at herself as she does so.
All in all, it signals that Duchess Minogue and her “ladies in waiting” would be perfectly at home on a regular basis in this imperial abode. The Duke of Northumberland, therefore, might want to change his locks. My oh my, indeed.
Genna Rivieccio
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