There’s just so much going on in Rita Ora’s new music video, probably too much, but “too much†is kind of Rita Ora’s thing. The song’s called “How to Be Lonely,†directed by Dave Meyers. It’s sort of about what happens after a breakup but it could just as well be a prescient chronicle of what happens to us all in self-quarantine. The former 50 Shades sort-of star starts off the video doing normal enough music video activities. She gets hit by an arrow in the chest! She hangs out with a bear! She seduces a skeleton! You know, normal enough.
But soon, Rita’s writhing around on a floor covered with uncooked eggs. Don’t hoard eggs, Rita! Please be careful about salmonella.
Then, Rita decides to take some sort of gold serum bath. An expensive, surely, but effective skin-care regimen, one hopes.
So far, so good, up until the point where a UFO lands and out comes both an alien and Rita Ora, now in a blue wig. Metaphorically, does this represent the arrival of a new self after one figures out how to be lonely? Will space Rita be bringing us a vaccine? Who is doing space Rita’s hair? What’s the extraterrestrial wig situation like?
In conclusion, we have learned absolutely nothing about how to be lonely but have enjoyed watching an escalating series of odd things Rita Ora agreed to do on video. Rita, thank you, we hope the egg washed off easily.