Madonna - Borderline

What this video is

Released as the fourth US single from Madonna's self-titled 1983 debut album on February 15, 1984, 'Borderline' became Madonna's first top-ten hit in the United States, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The video arrived during the formative years of MTV, when the network was actively constructing the visual grammar of pop stardom. Its depiction of an interracial relationship and its navigation of urban…

Why it matters

A landmark in the pop music video form, 'Borderline' demonstrated that a promotional clip could function as a short narrative film with cultural and sociological weight. It established a template for the 'mini-movie' music video format that would define the medium throughout the 1980s. As one of…

The director

Born October 13, 1951, in Helena, Arkansas. Graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a B.F.A. An American director of music videos, television, and feature films, Lambert directed many of Madonna's most iconic early videos and later became known…