1997 - Per Gessle - I want you to know

What this video is

Released in 1997 as the third single from 'The World According to Gessle' — Per Gessle's third solo album and first recorded entirely in English — this video represents a deliberate attempt to establish Gessle as a solo international pop artist independent of Roxette, the duo he co-founded with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 which had achieved four US number-one singles. The album topped the Swedish Album Chart and was…

Why it matters

Documents the crossover moment when a primary Scandinavian pop songwriter attempted English-language solo commercialization mid-decade, using the same director (Åkerlund) who was simultaneously helping define the visual grammar of late-1990s MTV pop and electronic music. The video sits at the…

The director

Born 10 November 1965 in Bromma, Stockholm, Sweden. Former drummer of Swedish black metal band Bathory (1983–1984). Debuted as music video director with Candlemass' 'Bewitched' before becoming the principal video director for Roxette. By 1997 he was…