Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody

What this video is

Released May 2, 1987, as the lead single from Whitney Houston's second studio album Whitney (Arista Records), 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)' arrived at the apex of the MTV-driven pop video era. The song and its music video became central artifacts in Houston's contested crossover identity: celebrated for achieving massive mainstream pop success while simultaneously criticized in some quarters for not…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of 1980s dance-pop and the MTV crossover pop video format. The video codified a visual grammar—multi-set studio performance, high-energy choreography, rapid editing synchronized to song tempo, glamorous overlit principal photography—that became the template for late-decade pop…

The director

British music video and television director and producer. Began career as a cameraman; co-founded MGMM Productions in 1982 with Scott Millaney, Russell Mulcahy, and David Mallet, which became one of the most successful UK production companies of the 1980s.…