Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Loneliness

What this video is

Released September 8, 1997, '4 Seasons of Loneliness' arrived at a defining inflection point in R&B history. Boyz II Men had spent the first half of the decade dominating the Hot 100 with Philly-soul-inflected vocal balladry, but by 1997 the genre was fracturing — hip-hop's harder textures, Timbaland's futurism, and Bad Boy's flash were reshaping commercial R&B. Written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis —…

Why it matters

A canonical late-chapter document of the Motown vocal-group R&B tradition, this video captures the genre at its commercial apex-to-twilight. Directed by Paul Hunter — one of the defining visual voices of Black music video culture in the 1990s — it exemplifies the premium R&B ballad visual grammar:…

The director

Emmy-nominated American filmmaker and co-founder of commercial production company PRETTYBIRD. A native Californian, Hunter majored in Radio, TV & Film at Cal State Northridge. He entered music video directing in 1995 and rapidly ascended to direct for Mariah…