You better sing, dance or rhyme,
Or you'll be frozen in no time!
Or you'll be frozen in no time!
"Frightningale, I am Hawk Moth. So, they tried to silence you? With the power I'm giving you, the world will be nothing but song and dance!"
— Hawk Moth
International pop sensation Clara Nightingale has come to Paris to film a music video for her new song, "Miraculous", and she's looking for a Ladybug to pair with Cat Noir, who is played by none other than Adrien! Unfortunately, Chloé's machinations turn her into the villain Frightningale, who aims to spread music by forcing people to sing, dance, and rhyme.
Tropes in this episode:
- As Himself: A subplot for the first half of the episode involves Marinette and Adrien being cast as Ladybug and Cat Noir in a music video and being afraid that someone might recognize them as the real deal. At the end, they get around this by playing each other.
- Combat Stilettos: Clara Nightingale wears extremely high heels, both as herself and as Frightningale.
- Continuity Nod:
- Clara is signed with Bob Roth, who is also Jagged Stone's producer.
- An ad for Mireille and Aurore is seen on a bus.
- Chloé's butler (still called a name starting with "Jean") hands her Mr. Cuddly when she's upset, which she takes.
- Ondine and Luka are among those seen participating in the music video at the end.
- Dance Battler: Frightingale all the way; Ladybug and Cat Noir do as well so they can still fight after being affected by her powers.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Nightingale's song is the show's theme song.
- Dramatic Unmask: Inverted. Marinette and Adrien slowly put on the masks, knowing that doing so could possibly reveal their secret identities. They're interrupted by Chloé and her father before they can put the masks on, however.
- Evil Diva: Frightingale, natch.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Inverted - Marinette and Adrien have to dress up as Ladybug and Cat Noir for Clara's music video, but rather than being concealed, they are both afraid that seeing them in the costumes will cause everyone to catch on to their secret identities. It certainly doesn't help that Gabriel produced copies that are incredibly similar to the real deal. Tikki and Plagg even compliment his work.
- Got Volunteered: Gabriel volunteers Adrien to play Cat Noir in Clara Nightingale's music video as a publicity stunt. When Adrien protests (for obvious reasons), Gabriel makes it clear that he has no choice in the matter.
- Henpecked Husband: Chloé's father puts his foot down and refuses to indulge her vindictiveness. Then she threatens to tell her mother on him, which terrifies him into compliance.
- Hidden Depths: Chloé reveals herself as a very agile and competent dancer, especially compared with all the other auditionees.
- Insufferable Genius: As it turns out, Chloé is an accomplished dancer. But she's also an insufferable bitch, so no one is sorry to see her go when the considerably less graceful Marinette takes the role of Ladybug.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Implied - Chloé is nowhere to be seen in the final version of Clara's video, not even as an extra.
- Least Rhymable Word: Frightningale tries to trick Cat Noir into saying "hundred", knowing nothing rhymes with it. "Quatorze" (14) in the French version.note
- Loophole Abuse: Ladybug and Cat have to keep dancing to stop from turning into statues. However, they get around this by having Ladybug handcuff the two of them together as a form of "synchronized dancing".
- Meaningful Echo: Both Plagg and Tikki praise the quality of the costumes, describing them in exactly the same words.
- My God, What Have I Done?: André Bourgeois looks remorseful when Clara Nightingale breaks down in tears after he shuts down her shoot, showing that this time he regrets indulging Chloé's whim.
- Not So Above It All: Even Hawk Moth gets in on the Rhymes on a Dime bit.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Marinette initially turns down the chance to be Ladybug and work alongside Adrien in Clara's music video when it would risk exposing her identity. However, when Chloé shows up for the Ladybug audition and surprisingly nails it, Marinette's jealousy gets the better of her and she accepts the part to prevent Chloé from getting close to Adrien. This infuriates Chloé enough to get her father to shut down the music video while nearly exposing herself as Ladybug. But then...
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Chloé's sabotaging the video helps preserve Marinette and Adrien's secret identities, and the final video puts everyone except her in the hero roles.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: At his daughter's behest, André uses a bureaucratic error to shut down the filming of Clara's video.
- On Second Thought: Marinette initially turned down the role of Ladybug for the video to avoid risking her identity. When Chloé shows up and nearly wins, she does a quick turnaround.
- Ordinary People's Music Video: Due to the machinations of Chloé, Clara loses permission to shoot videos anywhere in France, so she can't finish the videoclip for her song that celebrates Ladybug and Cat Noir. The solution Ladybug comes up with is to have ordinary Parisian citizens doing the dance all over Paris and make a clip of those scenes.
- Other Common Music Video Concepts: In-Universe. Since a bureaucratic error disallows Clara from filming in Paris, she instead films the "Dancing in the Street" version, with many people performing the song's choreography around the city while wearing Ladybug and Cat Noir masks. Marinette and Adrien both manage to keep their identities concealed by wearing the other hero's mask.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Discussed, Lampshaded, and central to the B-Plot. For various reasons, Marinette and Adrien both get roped into auditioning as Ladybug and Cat Noir for Nightingale's music video. Naturally, both are terrified of wearing their way-too-realistic stage costumes in front of the world lest everyone notice their uncanny similarity to the heroes and figure out their secret identities.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Invoked and justified. Clara speaks this way both before and after being akumatized; as Frightningale, she forces her victims to speak in rhymes like her, lest they be turned into statues.
- Rhyming Episode: Frightningale forces people to rhyme, resulting in this.
- Secret Test of Character: Clara trips on purpose when she walks by the extra tryouts and offers the role of Ladybug to the person who helps her up, saying it's what Ladybug would do. Makes sense — after all, it worked for Master Fu.
- Shout-Out:
- In the French and English dubs, one of the reasons the Mayor brings for shutting down the filming is that permit A 38 was incorrectly filled.
- Frightningale’s design looks a lot like Harley Quinn.
- Special Guest: Laura Marano as the singing voice for Clara Nightingale/Frightningale (her speaking voice is Allegra Clark).
- Still Sucks Thumb: Chloé, after being refused the Ladybug role.
- Strange Minds Think Alike:
- Tikki's opinion of Marinette's costume is basically the same as Plagg's of Adrien's costume.
- Adrien and Marinette have the same idea about where to hide their masks.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Marinette insists her irritation with Chloé getting the role of Ladybug is more about Chloé representing Ladybug for the music video rather than her getting close to Adrien.
- Taken for Granite: Frightningale's victims are turned into bright pink statues. They get better once Ladybug and Cat Noir defeat Frightningale.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Clara's Ladybug auditionees are all pretty bad, and they are shown in a montage. They include many clumsy young women, at least two little girls... and Lieutenant Roger.
- Variable-Length Chain: At its longest, Frightningale's whip can strike targets on ground level when she's standing on top of a building.
- Your Costume Needs Work: Everyone agrees that while Marinette and Adrien do look a lot like Ladybug and Cat Noir, they horribly fail at acting the part. Which was their intention.
