Joseph Arthur - Chemical

What this video is

Released in June 2000 as the lead single from Come to Where I'm From, 'Chemical' arrived at a cultural inflection point when the post-grunge confessional singer-songwriter was ascending as a critical darling archetype — indebted to the intimacy of folk yet informed by the emotional rawness of '90s alternative rock. Joseph Arthur, signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records and distributed via Virgin, occupied a…

Why it matters

The video is a significant artifact of the early-2000s prestige singer-songwriter music video tradition, demonstrating how a fine-art visual director (Corbijn) could apply portrait-photography aesthetics to the pop music format. Its dual-identity concept and durational sculptural element…

The director

Anton Corbijn (b. 20 May 1955, Strijen, Netherlands) is a Dutch photographer, film director, and music video director. He was among the first still photographers to direct music videos (1983) and has directed over 80 videos for artists including U2, Depeche…