Michael Jackson - You Are Not Alone

What this video is

Released in the summer of 1995 as the second single from HIStory: Past, Present and Future—Book I, 'You Are Not Alone' arrived at a moment of intense personal and public pressure for Michael Jackson. The song became the first in the 37-year history of the Billboard Hot 100 to debut at number one, a Guinness World Record, and was Jackson's thirteenth and final number-one US single. The music video's neoclassical…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of the mid-1990s R&B ballad music video form, 'You Are Not Alone' exemplifies the era's move toward high-concept, cinematic short-film production values over performance-only clips. Its neoclassical visual grammar, record-breaking chart performance, and intimate semi-nude…

The director

Wayne Isham (b. December 2, 1958, Vinita, Oklahoma) is an American music video and film director. A University of California, Santa Barbara alumnus, he cited David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' as his career inspiration. By the early 1990s he was a preeminent…