Jay-Jay Johanson - Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Paris (Video)

What this video is

Released in 1998 as part of Jay-Jay Johanson's second album Tattoo, 'Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Paris' sits at the nexus of Scandinavian trip-hop's late-90s peak and its enthusiastic reception in the French market, where Tattoo charted at number 16. The song's cosmopolitan title — a string of European and American cities — encapsulates the nomadic, borderless romanticism central to the European art-pop scene of the…

Why it matters

The video is a key artifact of the late-90s European trip-hop and downtempo art-pop movement, occupying the same cultural space as Portishead, Massive Attack, and the broader Bristol-influenced European underground. Johanson's fusion of jazzy vocals, cinematic downtempo arrangements, and…

The director

French director born 23 November 1966 in Caen. Son of a military officer, he spent his childhood between Africa, Asia, and Europe. Worked as assistant director for notable figures before transitioning to music video direction. Between 1993 and 2007 he…