The Saltburn soundtrack is getting a vinyl release that is filled with ‘bath water’, in reference to a notorious scene in the film.
Saltburn starred Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, a middle-class interloper who poses as a scholarship student from a working-class background in order to strike up a friendship with Jacob Elordi’s wealthy aristocrat Felix Catton at Oxford University. Oliver is eventually invited by Felix to spend the summer at his family home, called Saltburn – a large mansion in the British countryside.
The two characters strike up a complicated relationship, and one memorable scene finds Oliver, having overseen Jacob pleasuring himself in the bath, lapping the remaining drops of bathwater in the tub before it swirls down the plughole.
And now, Bad World are releasing the film’s soundtrack on limited edition translucent vinyl which has been filled with what is being billed as ‘bath water’, in tribute to the scene.
You can order your copy here.
The soundtrack itself is filled with ‘00s indie and pop classics, including tracks by MGMT, Girls Aloud, The Killers, Bloc Party and Arcade Fire.
The most notable track in the film was Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, which enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity as a result of its inclusion, reaching Number Two on the UK Singles Chart.
Speaking to NME at the time about seeing her song included in such a talking-point new film, she said: “I went along to a screening with my whole family – including my mum and my eldest – and luckily we all survived and we all loved it.”
“I got that feeling that I find really delicious where afterwards you just want to think about the movie and talk about it. There was a whole atmosphere to it and I just wanted to get back into that headspace as quick as I could. It was funny and had so many great songs in there, so it was special to be a small part of that.”
The new vinyl pressing is not the first product to have been inspired by the infamous bathtub scene – in February, a bathbomb was produced by the British cosmetics company Lush under the title ‘saltbomb’. It was said to create “salty, milky bath water”.
The same scene also prompted the creation of a new cocktail, Jacob Elordi’s Bathtub Water Cocktail, which went viral on TikTok in January. Made using lychee martini, gin and coconut milk, it was created by Mr. Consistent
Margot Robbie, who produced Saltburn, said that the scene “didn’t feel that shocking” when she first read the script. Praising director and writer Emerald Fennell, she said: “Emerald immerses you into a world so quickly. She’s so masterful at tone and plot; she gets you into it so quickly — you’re just immediately like, ‘I’m in this world.’”
“So by the time you get to something like the bathtub scene, she’s primed you for it. She’s got you. You’re, like, picking at a scab; you’re like, ‘I can’t help myself.’ Or like popping a pimple: ‘I know I shouldn’t squeeze but I’m gonna.’”