Paula Abdul - Cold Hearted

JUL 01 1989 · 12:00

Paula Abdul - Cold Hearted (1989) Director: David Fincher Era: Late MTV Golden Age (1989) - Peak of choreography-driven pop music video at the intersection of new jack swing, dance-pop, and theatrical visual storytelling on cable television Tier-1 canonical artifact of the late-1980s music video era. Represents the convergence of three major cultural forces, David Fincher's emerging directorial voice, Paula Abdul's unique choreographer-performer authorship, and the Bob Fosse theatrical tradition recontextualized for mass-market MTV, into a single 4-minute work. Its sustained MTV dominance, chart impact, and continued cultural citation (Glee, Lip Sync Battle recreations) confirm its status as a primary source for scholars of pop visual culture, dance history, and the pre-Hollywood careers of major American filmmakers. Context: Released June 1989 as the fifth single from Abdul's debut album Forever Your Girl, 'Cold Hearted' arrived at the apex of MTV's cultural dominance and the new jack swing era's infiltration of mainstream pop. The video represents a unique synthesis: Abdul's background as a professional choreographer (notably for Janet Jackson) elevated the music video form into a vehicle for genuine theatrical dance art, while Fincher's cinematic eye, already developing the visual precision he would deploy in feature films, gave the production a moodiness atypical of the bright, high-key aesthetic common to late-80s pop videos. The Fosse homage was culturally legible to a wide audience and positioned Abdul not merely as a pop singer but as a dance-world heir to a legitimate theatrical tradition. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1989 and ranked sixth on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for 1989, reflecting its sustained commercial dominance across the calendar year. Director notes: Cold Hearted was Fincher's second collaboration with Paula Abdul, following his earlier direction of her 'Straight Up' clip. The video is explicitly inspired by Bob Fosse's 'Take Off with Us / Air-Erotica' sequence from the 1979 film All That Jazz, with Abdul and her dancers performing a steamy choreographed routine on industrial scaffolding for a group of diegetic record executives. The video spent more than three weeks atop MTV's rotation list. Produced by Steve Golin. Shot on 35mm film, originated in downtown Los Angeles. A notable production trivia detail documented by songwriter/producer Elliot Wolff: the video depicts violin players mid-performance, but the actual sound is keyboard synthesizers, not live strings.