By Gus Saltonstall
Zingone Brothers has been on the Upper West Side for nearly 100 years, but it recently marked a first, when an international pop star filmed a music video inside the longtime grocer at 471 Columbus Avenue, near the corner of West 83rd Street.
Singer Olivia Rodrigo released a music video for her new track “stupid song” on Thursday, and it was flush with Upper West Side locations.
The video begins with Rodrigo walking out of a building entrance on West 75th Street, between Columbus and Central Park West, before immediately switching perspectives to the view from a GoPro camera attached to the head of Oliver, the Zingone’s Brother’s bodega cat.
“Thought this was cool–Olivia Rodrigo recently filmed her music video in the neighborhood, including Zingone Brothers,” Tina Chapman wrote in an email to West Side Rag on Friday morning. “They even put a GoPro on Oliver Zingone, the resident cat.”
Richie Zingone, who is one of the members of the family that runs the longtime neighborhood store, confirmed to West Side Rag on Friday morning that the video was shot inside the UWS shop.
“It was good,” Zingone said in a phone interview. “The crew was good; they came in and were professional.”
Zingone also confirmed that the music video included shots from a GoPro strapped to the store’s cat, Oliver.
“He was used as a stunt cat. That is Oliver’s paw that you see at the beginning of the video,” Zingone said. “What happened is that they had these other cats who were trained and they didn’t want Oliver to interfere. So, initially we took Oliver off premise, but then halfway through the shoot, they said, ‘Can you get Oliver back and would you let him wear a go-pro?’ And we said ‘Yeah’.”
“Oliver was part of the production,” he added. “He got his cut.”
The video goes on to include Rodrigo playing a piano inside Zingone Brothers, ballerinas dancing on Central Park West, a shot in front of the San Remo building on Central Park West, between West 74th and 75th streets, scenes from Central Park, and more shots from Oliver the cat’s perspective.
The music video has more than 1.2 million views in the 10 hours since it was published, as of 11 a.m. on Friday.
You can watch it below.
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Not to be “that guy”, but Zingones is a grocery store specializing in produce. Not a deli.
Thank you for your attention to this matter
Music so bad nowadays—seems like a Taylor Swift wannabe down to the ballerinas in a video although they got the Nirvana ‘smells like teen spirit’ cheerleader treatment—curse of this/my age is seeing and hearing all this before in some form—think I’ll put on some Joni Mitchell —like the GoPro cats tho!
Believe it or not, her inspiration comes from the 80’s and 90’s – Robert Smith of The Cure is featured on one of her songs. Try listening to this album, I think you’ll be shocked how lyrically and musically excellent it truly is.
Her debut album was #1 on the Billboard 200 – and 9 other charts globally.. Her first two singles went directly to #1. in several countries. She has 3 Grammys, 4 MTV Video Awards, 7 Billboard Music Awards, and was named Time’s Entertainer of the Year in 2021 – among other things. And she’s still only 22.
What, exactly, have YOU accomplished?
What a silly reply. Not everyone has to like everything. People should be able to express their opinion without such an obnoxious response.
I think she’s genuinely terrific. Nothing more lame than someone complaining that all modern music has been done before.
She’s actually Taylor’s #1 fan and she’s not just a wannabe. She’s accomplished a lot in 23 years, and her musical style was heavily influenced by her parent’s generation of alternative music. If you skip the visuals and just listen to her sing you might really enjoy it.
Opposite take: I enjoyed the visuals (UWS is photogenic), song seemed inoffensive but forgettable. I think it was about some kind of lover’s angst?
Fortunately, a new Stones album is right around the corner.
Indeed, skip the visuals. Music videos can be be works of art in their own way. This one doesn’t make it, nor make an approipriate partner for the song and the singer.
She’s actually kinda cool and well respected by elder musicians. I know she and David Byrne have performed together.
Yes.. and she has said that she is influence by The Smiths too…. mad respect.
I thought that and then watched the video and the song is pretty good if you listed to the second half.
not just random ballerinas dancing on Central Park West
Those are NYCBallet dancers including Tyler Peck and India Bradley
They must have had a blast doing this
That’s Tiler Peck, the NYC Ballet superstar principal dancer and choreographer among the ballerinas.. She also choreographed the number. Here’s her post on Instagram about the video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZffHVMzvGK/
“Stupid Song”‘s construction is a bit like that of “The Cure,” but I like the latter better. I like the cats in this one, and the local scenes and ballerinas are a plus!
Robert Smith is apparently a fan of hers (and her dad is a huge fan of him). They actually collaborated on “What’s Wrong With me” from this album, and he performed it live with her to boot.
You just opened my eyes, thank you. If she is Robert Smith-approved she must be good. Will check out her music, starting with What’s Wrong With Me.
Excellent! Loved the location, the song, ballerinas and the cat! Brava to all involved!
Wish I had been there to watch them wrestle that piano through Zingone’s narrow front door into the narrower aisle. Kudos to Richie and family for keeping the Zingone mystique alive, even after the sad deaths of Josephine and Mary. The last big event I recall there was when American Express filmed there on Small Business Day (and I snagged an Amex gift card for being interviewed). More kudos to the ballerinas for contributing their talent, dirty knees and all, to this event.
You can also see the adorable cat Oliver Zingone’s face reflected in the piano at the 30 second mark of the video. It’s a shot taken from the GoPro camera around his neck. So cute!!
The NYT had a lukewarm review of Rodrigo’s album today. I think the criticisms were superficial. They amounted to saying that this third album lacks the power and pizzazz of the first two. But I think the third is more reflective and takes more risks, certainly, with the video. And how can anyone say that the female power bursting out from the bridge in “The Cure” is inferior to Rodrigo’s earlier work? I give her thumbs up on this third album, and I think the collaborators, including some feline ones, did a tremendous job.
Wow had a simple musical opinion and was called lame, that I didn’t listen to it, and that I didn’t accomplish anything close—and those all were moderated thru! Such a lovely group of ppl here
“Music so bad…” ain’t so lovely either.
Loved it!!! Also thank you all for explaining who the ballerinas were. That makes it even more special. Cat…breakout star!
But what’s-his-name, the skinny actor said ballet was dead!!
Timmy C.
Hi Everyone,
I am Oliver Zingone, the handsome ginger cat featured in Olivia Rodrigo’s new music video, Stupid Song. I had a great time filming the video where you see my paws and face within the first 35 seconds. And I loved being petted by Olivia. I was purring.
I always enjoy greeting people who come to my store. Follow me on Facebook at Facebook.com/OliverZingone
Meowtastically Yours,
Oliver Zingone 😻