Carly Rae Jepsen wants to party in Versailles, and she’s made a whole video about it. The singer’s new single “Versailles,” off her double LP Day and Night, sets a dance floor in Los Angeles against a fantasy of the French chateau, with lyrics that name Marie Antoinette while asking for a modern take on the palace.
The song was inspired by Sofia Coppola’s film Marie Antoinette, and Jepsen wrote it with Elias Kapari, Noonie Bao, and Markus Krunegård, with Kapari handling production. The music video was filmed in Los Angeles and directed by Kanya Iwana.
The Lyrics Behind the Palace
“I wanna party in Versailles / I wanna see it in the nighttime,” Jepsen sings over the beat. She continues, “We’ll go all night just to feel something / And then we’ll lose our heads / For the people we’ve forgotten / Marie Antoinette but modern.”
The song’s hook is simple: she wants to dance at the palace, and she wants to do it now. The video plays that idea out literally, with Jepsen dancing through scenes that imagine her at the famous French chateau.
Day and Night Arrives Today
Day and Night is Jepsen’s first album of new music since 2023’s The Loveliest Time. It drops today with 24 tracks across two LPs, each comprising 12 songs corresponding to the Day and Night theme. The album also includes a music video for the ABBA-inspired song “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor,” which Jepsen previously shared.
The project started taking shape in June. On June 1, Jepsen’s official website played snippets of two different instrumentals, each for 12 hours. One of those tracks was “After All.” Then, on June 11, she began posting postcard-like images twice a day to her social media accounts, captioned with a lyric, location, and timestamp.
A Year of Waiting
Jepsen has been teasing this record for months. The release follows a long stretch without new material, and the album’s 24-track count suggests she had plenty to say.
The ABBA-inspired video for “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” arrived earlier as a preview of the full record. Now “Versailles” is doing the same job for the second half of the project.
The Live Date in New York
Jepsen will play a special sunset set at New York City’s All Things Go Festival on Sept. 27. That performance marks her first live appearance of the year.
| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Day and Night release | Today | Everywhere |
| “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” video | Previously shared | N/A |
| “Versailles” video premiere | Now | N/A |
| All Things Go Festival set | Sept. 27 | New York City |
What We Know About the Album
- Album: Day and Night, a double LP
- Tracks: 24 total, 12 per LP
- Previous singles/video: “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor”
- New single: “Versailles”
- Release date: Today
- Live date: Sept. 27 at All Things Go Festival, New York City
The video for “Versailles” is available now, and it captures the spirit of the song: a pop star dancing at a party while imagining herself at a palace, singing about losing her head for the people she’s forgotten.
This is the kind of cheerful excess that makes Jepsen worth watching. She’s made a song about a royal palace, shot a video in Los Angeles, and called it modern — and she means it.
See the video the story is built around at Rolling Stone.
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