Synopsis

A mysterious intermediary hires Sting to perform a song for an unseen woman. In a stark, run-down warehouse, Sting sings and plays guitar while being filmed in stark black-and-white imagery. The completed footage is then screened for the woman in a color-framed setting, creating a film-within-a-film structure. The contrast between the shadowy performance space and the woman's detached observation gives the video a dreamlike, slightly noir atmosphere, matching the song's imagery of emotional defenses, distance, and attempted reconciliation.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1985 to promote Sting's solo debut album, "The Dream of the Blue Turtles."

• Its main performance material was filmed in downtown Los Angeles, while the color scenes involving the woman were filmed in Santa Monica.

• The stark warehouse setting and black-and-white photography distinguish Sting's performance from the surrounding color footage, making the filmed performance feel more isolated and emotionally exposed.

• The song was written in Barbados while Sting was working on guitar parts based on modal chords. He described the central idea as trying to bridge the gaps between two people after defensive barriers have been built between them.

• "Fortress Around Your Heart" became Sting's second consecutive No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart and reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.