Macy Gray - I Try

What this video is

Released in 1999 as the second single from Macy Gray's debut album 'On How Life Is' (Epic Records), 'I Try' arrived at the apex of neo-soul's commercial emergence alongside artists like Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu. The video's New York City location shooting and understated narrative approach positioned Gray as an authentic, non-manufactured voice at a moment when MTV's TRL era was dominated by highly produced pop…

Why it matters

A landmark neo-soul crossover artifact, 'I Try' demonstrated that organic, emotionally-driven R&B rooted in classic soul production could achieve mainstream chart dominance in the late 1990s pop landscape. The video's restrained, realist visual language — atypical for the era's high-gloss pop…

The director

Mark Romanek (born September 18, 1959, Chicago, IL) is an American director of music videos, commercials, and feature films. He graduated from Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications. He is widely regarded as one of the defining music video…