While describing the video, Charli XCX says that while she was creating the video she was heavily inspired by Barbie, Natural Born Killers, and the notorious bandits, Thelma, and Louise. You can clearly see the nods to these pop culture references all throughout the video. It begins with Charli and Rita holding up a convenience store then hopping into their bubble gum pink pickup truck to hit the open road. They are chased by the police through the desert roads and stop along the way to meet some colorful characters.
The duo ends up at a wild party complete with a mechanical bull only to be caught by the police, but don’t you worry, the policemen are actually male strippers! Charli also stated that Florida strip clubs were an influence for the video. The cops strip down, hop on the mechanical bull, and the party rages on.
Overall, the video paired well with the song. The lyrics of the song are focused on living life to the fullest and seizing the day, and both of those themes were represented in the video. The imagery and flow of the video told the story within the lyrics well and added another layer to them. Rita and Charli played really well off of one another. The chemistry between the artists was so natural, although they did seem more like Romy and Michele rather than Bonnie and Clyde.
The design of the set came together nicely, it was bursting with pastel colors and 1970’s Americana influences. The design screamed happy-go-lucky, but the grainy filters and fast paced editing added a much-needed layer of edge to the video.
There have been comparisons to the iconic “Telephone” video by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé from 2009. Both videos had comparable influences, however, Charli XCX and Rita Ora had a grungier edge with the video for “Doing It.” They were sassy to the extreme and hopefully we’ll see more collaborations from the two artists in the future.