Ripped straight out of Bridgerton’s Regency era, you’re probably used to seeing Oli Higginson with pin-curled, bleached hair, serving ruffles, charm, and the Bridgertons themselves in the servant quarters. But pause your meme-making behaviour for just a second, and you’ll spot him masquerading as someone entirely different: Modern Oli, his musical alter-ego.
Fresh off a sold-out debut show and an opening slot for Skinny Living at Dingwalls, Modern Oli dropped his first single, ‘One Of Those Faces’—a playful nod to that universal moment when you point at a near-stranger convinced you definitely know them from somewhere, folded into deeper reflections on fame and belonging. Now he’s back with his second single, ‘Transatlantic,’ landing this week.
We caught up with him to talk about that Meaghan Martin feature, the art of holding conversations with different versions of himself through songwriting, and plenty more.
Modern Oli immediately draws a line between the early-19th-century world of Bridgerton and you, here and now, singing these songs. Where did that stage name come from?
I always knew I wanted to release music under a moniker, an alter-ego. The saying ‘give a man a mask and he’ll show you his true face’ rings true to me. I guess through acting I’ve come to realise that the best way to be yourself, to reveal your truth, is through the guise of another person, a character. Modern Oli is a conduit for all my deepest dreams, fears, anxieties, and desires — feelings which I’ve come to realise are not so unique but something that anyone navigating the challenges of being a human on earth in 2026 can relate to.
I remember the start of the Modern Oli idea very vividly. I was 22, and a teacher at my drama school (Guildhall School of Music and Drama) sat me down and just asked me ‘how are you, Oli?’. I replied, ‘I dunno, I feel kinda weird . . . like I feel like a post-modern version of myself . . . like there was a before, and now I’m living in the after.’ That sort of strange sensation has sat with me ever since and led to me exploring that feeling of restlessness through my music throughout my 20s. The project started off being called ‘Post-Modern Boy,’ then ‘Post-Modern Oli,’ and finally, just ‘Modern Oli.’ Then it’s kind of magical and fitting that I’ve become best known for my role on a Regency era period drama…sometimes you’ve got to look back to move forward.
So many members of the Bridgerton cast can sing—it must make it tempting to burst into song behind the scenes. Do you have a favourite on-set memory where music took over?
We were finishing a major ball scene in Season 4, Part 2, and it was actually the last day of the shoot for loads of us this season. Between takes, director Rayne Harris was blasting this groovy dance track, and we were all going nuts, exhausted after a long day, but already missing the magic of the Bridgerton set, knowing this season was all coming to an end. I am anticipating some videos surfacing in the coming weeks of me doing some pretty ridiculous dancing with Florence Hunt, Gracie McGonigal, Yerin — there’s something absurd about a regency era footman in a white wig rocking out to Charli XCX. The day ended and I was in tears of joy and sadness . . . shooting Bridgerton is a rollercoaster!
The Bridgerton soundtrack is full of stunning orchestral covers. Was there one in particular that really grabbed you while watching the show or diving into the music?
I’m obsessed with this season’s cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Bad Idea Right?.’ I mean, obviously, the scene is so iconic between Yerin and Luke, such a sexy, dangerous, exciting scene, and then with the growling cello cover of Olivia Rodrigo is just sublime. Bridgerton at its best in my opinion!
You’ve said you’re obsessed with musicals, and you’re currently starring in American Psycho. What is it about musicals that really tickles your muse?
Well, I’m obsessed with theatre in general — it’s what got me into acting in the beginning, and I think it’s the bedrock of a flourishing, empathetic, curious society. I love the communal experience of gathering together to tell a story in real-time. I don’t know what I would do or who I would be without theatre. With musicals, I think the best kind of musical is just so powerful at transporting you to another world. Music unlocks something in the soul where sometimes words can only go so far. You need to sing them to truly get inside the meaning of certain emotions, feelings, and ideas. I also really am not a dancer… but doing American Psycho right now, I have to dance a bit and those moments have become my favourite to perform. When all 15 of us are on stage, and we’re just throwing our bodies around to the music. It’s magic. It feels dangerous and alive.
On The Rational Romantics podcast last year, you mentioned writing a song about a relationship between someone English and someone American, and fusing it with a verse you’d written three years earlier. Does that kind of time-traveling songwriting happen often, finding lyrical parallels between different versions of yourself?
Absolutely. I think sometimes it’s hard to truly have perspective on something when you’re living it at that exact moment. For me, I need to have moved past something, beyond it, to properly look at it and process it into a song. But equally, I have another song, ‘Caveman,’ which I wrote totally in real-time, in the moment, writing the song exactly as I felt it and thought it. But that is probably a rarer occurrence — usually I find songwriting a time-travelling reflective process where I’m transporting myself back to a moment in time, or sometimes imagining a situation in the future that I haven’t lived yet.
‘One of Those Faces’ beautifully blends the energy of live performance with studio-level detail. What does working in a live environment let you express or capture that’s harder to achieve in a purely studio-constructed song?
For me, when I’m performing live, I can be in the moment, totally lost in my instinct. I can get out of my own way. It stops me overthinking it, it releases me. So in general, I think it’s important for me in my process to honour that sense of being in the moment and capturing something that is raw. I love making mistakes and letting them become part of the fabric of a record. In a world where artists are being threatened by AI at every corner, it’s the happy accidents that truly set us apart as living, breathing beings. Don’t get me wrong, there is a beautiful art to chiselling away in the studio for months on end, and agonising over little sounds and various mixes and forms of compression and effects and so on. But I don’t want perfection. I want to celebrate the flaws. That’s what makes us human.
We love Meaghan Martin—and fans noticed the song title mirrors a post you once shared about her. What was it like having her on the track?
Having Meaghan on the track was a relatively last-minute decision. I knew I wanted the song to have these spoken sections. The verses are quite conversational; it’s all meant to feel like we’re at a house party, overhearing a chat in the corner or a flirt between smokes on a balcony. Meaghan is such a brilliant actor and I love working with her so any excuse to get us in a room together… funnily enough we actually recorded Meaghan’s lines onto my laptop in a hotel room in Florida. We had to do a ton of takes because the rhythm is super specific to slot perfectly into the song. I have a very funny picture of her doing it — so strange to be recording lines for a song set in Peckham in London out in a hotel room in Orlando, Florida (yes, we were going to Disney World). The laugh which you hear at the very end of the song was completely spontaneous — Meaghan messed something up on a take and then just laughed out loud. When my producer and I listened back to everything, we were like ohhh we have to put that in. So we popped that cute little giggle in at the end of the song as the last thing you hear.
Your debut show on October 30 last year sold out, and you did something bold—performing original songs before they were released on Spotify. Even now, fans only have ‘One of Those Faces.’ What’s it like having that little secret with the people who were there and already know more of your discography?
Honestly, it’s my favourite thing about this project. At the moment, I’m doing it all independently, so I get to make all the decisions every step of the way, and it gives me so much freedom to have a special relationship with the fans and share unique bits of my work just with them. I am so passionate about connecting with my listeners, and I’m always dreaming up exciting ways to make the world of Modern Oli as interesting and relatable, exciting, and immersive as possible! So many things to come… including a secret show exclusively for my core fans in a couple of weeks time which sold out in an hour!!! Madness.
Is there another song from that night that you wish were out in the world already?
I’m obviously hugely excited about ‘Transatlantic,’ which has felt like a fan favourite ever since that show, and went down so well live. I also have my song ‘Caveman’ which is really important to me, and I’m already planning a super exciting music video for it. But honestly I love all my songs, and I can’t wait to share all of them when the right moment arrives…
Finally, season four of Bridgerton shifts focus to the maids and workmen, with some really poignant moments of contrast and class. What are you most excited for viewers to understand about that world?
I love how this season debunks the myth that romantic period dramas are only for characters of high class. When I did my research for Footman John, I came across so many amazing stories and bits of history — it was clear to me that the people who work in the downstairs of houses like the Bridgertons are having just as many adventures (maybe even more!) than those upstairs. So I’m excited for viewers to come away understanding that there is so much nuance and complexity to these characters who traditionally are just left standing in the background. I think everyone can relate to that. We often feel relegated to the peripheries and left out of the excitement and adventure of life. Well, this season, no one is being left out.
We absolutely cannot wait for Bridgerton season four, part two, returning on February 26. But while we count down the days, you can keep your Regency cravings satisfied with Modern Oli’s upcoming single, ‘Transatlantic,’ dropping this Friday. Got a TikTok dance you’re desperate to see him perform as Footman John—perhaps one already conquered to ‘One Of Those Faces?’ Send it our way. Tell us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and we’ll gladly pass the summons along.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MODERN OLI:
INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
