Cibo Matto - Sugar Water ｜ Warner Records

What this video is

Released in 1996 as the lead single from Cibo Matto's debut album Viva! La Woman on Warner Bros. Records, 'Sugar Water' arrived at the apex of MTV's role as a showcase for innovative short-form filmmaking. The video sits at the intersection of several cultural currents: the rise of Shibuya-kei and Japanese-American art-pop in the NYC downtown scene; the mainstream penetration of trip-hop aesthetics via labels like…

Why it matters

A landmark of trip-hop and art-pop visual culture, 'Sugar Water' is among the most formally inventive music videos of the 1990s. Its single-take palindromic split-screen structure — with one half playing forward and one in reverse — represents a rare instance of concept and execution achieving…

The director

French filmmaker and music video director (b. 1963, Versailles). Began directing videos for French rock band Oui Oui before being recruited by Björk for 'Human Behaviour' (1993). Became one of the most celebrated music video directors of the 1990s, working…