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Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Music Video | 1996
ArtistJamiroquai
SongVirtual Insanity
AlbumTravelling Without Moving
DirectorJohnathan Glazer
GenreFunk
GenrePop
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown
Release date

Wiki

Synopsis

Jay Kay performs "Virtual Insanity" inside a stark white room where the furniture appears to move by itself. Sofas slide across the floor, chairs drift into his path, and the singer responds with precise footwork, spins, and evasive dance moves. The central illusion makes it seem as though the floor is shifting beneath him, creating a disorienting visual counterpart to the song's concerns about technology, alienation, and a world changing beyond human control.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was filmed on August 12, 1996, at Academy Films in London.
  • The floor does not actually move. The room, including its walls and camera setup, was built on a wheeled structure and moved around Jay Kay. This created the illusion that he was gliding across a stationary room.
  • The moving-room concept replaced an earlier plan to build a genuinely moving floor. The proposed mechanism was considered too expensive, so the production achieved the effect through physical set design and carefully coordinated movement.
  • The chairs and sofas were also manipulated to appear as though they were sliding independently across the room. Jay Kay had to time his choreography closely with the moving set and furniture.
  • At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, Jamiroquai recreated the video's signature illusion with two moving walkways traveling in opposite directions.
  • The video received ten nominations at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards and won four awards: Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video, Best Special Effects, and Best Cinematography.
  • The video's combination of practical effects, minimal set design, and uninterrupted-looking choreography helped make it one of the defining music videos of the 1990s.

Lyrics

Oh yeah what we're living in (let me tell ya)
It' a wonder man can eat atall
When things are big
That should be small
Who can tell what magicspells we'll be doing for us.
And I'm giving all my love to this world
Only to be told
I can't see, I can't breathe
No more will we be
And nothing's gonna change the way we live
Cuz we can always take andnever give
And now that things are changing for the worse,
See, it's acrazy world we're living in
...
© Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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