{"id":478274,"date":"2026-06-15T11:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478274\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T11:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:27:10","slug":"inside-the-handcrafted-world-building-of-olivia-rodrigos-the-cure-music-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/478274\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the handcrafted world-building of Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s The Cure music video"},"content":{"rendered":"

The balance speaks to the story. Encased in cute pink-and-blue palettes, the music video\u2019s story is darker than it looks: beating hearts go grey under needles, the nurse herself is unable to cure herself and bleeds red yarns. On Reddit, there are detailed fan theories about the symbolism. A post on r\/OliviaRodrigo argues<\/a>, among other things, that towards the end, when Olivia becomes a patient and six hearts are hooked onto her, it signifies how \u201cshe needs external hearts (sources of love) again, since her own heart (self-love) is not working well\u201d. On the number of hearts itself, one of the comments on the post claims that it \u201crepresents the six romantic relationships\u201d Olivia is rumoured to have had.<\/p>\n

Liam, though, has focused on striking the balance between soft and severe in the set\u2019s details, away from the labyrinthine corridors of fan theories. For the animatronic heart, a motorised, mechanical puppet that appears throughout the video, he found Erik Beck on Instagram<\/a>, who was already building one. \u201cWe had this robotic shell and Sara Paquette, my lead fabricator, made the skin for it with felt so that it\u2019d beat realistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardboard was crucial. When Olivia finally crushes the diorama, it is revealed to have been made of it. When she is playing the guitar, it is a life-sized, intricately detailed cardboard guitar and not a basic prototype. The microphone she sings into is covered with a cardboard mesh. \u201cInherently, cardboard has this texture to it, and so, even when we were making the blinds in the hallway and the walls, we started coming up with a patchwork motif in pastel colours, a little rough around the edges,\u201d Liam says. \u201cIt started feeling not too clinical and not too whimsical. It\u2019s this mix in between, where you just feel the texture and this darker nature of the set. It was also exciting to use a pastel colour palette, which you\u2019d think would be inherently happier, and contrast it with something a little sadder or darker, the brown of the cardboard.\u201d<\/p>\n