Synopsis

Madonna performs on a sunlit Malibu beach while a group of mysterious mermen move through the surf, dive beneath the waves, and playfully interact with one another. Their aquatic world contrasts with Madonna's direct, energetic performance of the romantic song. The black-and-white photography gives the clip a timeless, sculptural quality, turning the shoreline into a dreamlike setting where pop-star glamour, beach imagery, and male beauty coexist without a conventional storyline.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed on July 22, 1989, at Paradise Cove Beach in Malibu, California.

• It premiered on MTV on August 21, 1989, shortly after the single's release.

• Tony Ward appears as one of the mermen. He later became Madonna's boyfriend and worked with her again on "Justify My Love" and the Sex project.

• The other three mermen were water polo players from nearby Pepperdine University.

• Four custom tails were made for the shoot. Three of the full-size tails were cast in highly flexible rubber and weighed about 40 pounds each.

• The tails were designed to be neutrally buoyant. A spring-like armature inside each flipper helped the swimmers move with surprising power underwater.

• The cold Pacific water made Madonna's complexion appear unusually pale. The black-and-white treatment helped turn that practical problem into part of the video's distinctive visual style.

• The floating male figures drew on imagery from "The Male Nude Bubble," an earlier photograph associated with the video's visual style.

• Academic readings have interpreted the mermen as homoerotic figures and connected their secluded underwater world with ideas of invisibility, community, and oppression.

• Madonna later incorporated mermen imagery into her performance of "Cherish" during the Blond Ambition World Tour.