Kim Carnes — Crazy In Love

JUL 01 1988 · 12:00

Kim Carnes — Crazy In Love (1988) Era: Late MTV Era / Adult Contemporary Crossover (1988) - Post-synth-pop pivot toward Nashville-rooted adult contemporary, bridging Carnes's 1980s rock-pop image with a country-inflected comeback on MCA Records. This video holds moderate-to-high curatorial value as a document of the late-1980s adult-contemporary visual aesthetic and as a transitional artifact in Kim Carnes's career. Its warm, muted cinematography and unhurried editorial pacing contrast instructively with the effects-driven pop videos of the same period, offering a clean comparative data point for studies of genre-differentiated music video production. The song's multi-artist cover history also gives the clip cross-genre research utility. Context: Released in the summer of 1988, 'Crazy in Love' represents Kim Carnes's deliberate repositioning away from the synth-heavy MTV rock-pop identity she had cultivated since 'Bette Davis Eyes' (1981) toward a warmer, Nashville-recorded adult contemporary sound. The album View from the House was recorded live with session musicians in Nashville, reflecting Carnes's stated rejection of computer-driven Los Angeles production in favor of organic interplay. Critics noted the record as a 'grown-up departure' from her techno-pop style, and the video's warm, high-contrast, theatrically lit aesthetic mirrors this sonic pivot — eschewing the kinetic editing and effects-heavy grammar of contemporary pop-rock videos for an intimate, vocalist-centered presentation aligned with adult contemporary and country-crossover broadcast contexts including CMT and late-period MTV. Director notes: The video was produced to promote 'Crazy in Love,' the second single from Kim Carnes's eleventh studio album View from the House (MCA Records, released July 25, 1988). The album was co-produced by Carnes and Jimmy Bowen and recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. The single peaked at #13 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and #68 on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. The song was originally written by Even Stevens and Randy McCormick and first recorded by Joe Cocker in 1984. No music video crew credits have been located through available public records.