Synopsis

Neneh Cherry performs "Manchild" on a surreal, brightly colored beach that looks more like a deliberately artificial studio world than a real location. The camera gently sways from side to side in time with the song, giving the entire performance a dreamy, off-balance quality. Various figures appear around Cherry, including children and beachgoers, while the singer remains the visual and emotional focus. The simple setup lets the song's reflective mood and its portrait of immature masculinity take center stage.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video's concept reportedly grew from an everyday scene outside Cherry's home. While listening to the song in a small Fiat Panda, the filmmaker watched her neighbor sweeping in gold chains, saw laundry hanging nearby, and then encountered Cherry at the door with a towel on her head and a baby in her arms. The ordinary domestic setting became the inspiration for the video's visual world.

• Cherry's daughters Naima and Tyson appear in the video, along with her stepson Marlon Roudette.

• The side-to-side camera movement is synchronized with the beat, creating the video's distinctive rocking sensation and making the beach appear almost weightless.

• "Manchild" was the first song Cherry wrote. She built its basic harmony on a Casio keyboard using the auto-chord setting, unknowingly using every chord available on the instrument.

• The track includes a rap section written by Robert "3D" Del Naja, who would later become known as a member of Massive Attack.

• The video received a nomination for Best Video at the 1990 Brit Awards.

• Although "Manchild" became a major hit in many territories, Cherry's American record company initially refused to release it because it did not resemble the more commercially successful "Buffalo Stance."