Björk – Big Time Sensuality
Björk – Big Time Sensuality (1995)
Directed by: Stéphane Sednaoui
To shoot the music video for “Big Time Sensuality”, Björk called upon Stéphane Sednaoui, who had previously directed videos for Madonna, U2, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sednaoui heard about Björk when he went to Los Angeles for the first time and declared to be fascinated by her music. Björk personally wanted the director after seeing some photos of Kurt Cobain shot by him, that Björk recalled as being the only photos in which she saw Cobain “laughing out loud and dancing”
Sednaoui at first wanted to go to Iceland to shoot the music video, but the costs were too high for the budget. Björk explained the inspiration for the music video: “when you’re living on the edge and it’s about the courage to enjoy life”. The director got the idea for the music video while he was in New York and realised that “it would work amazingly with the city. With all the big buildings and everything and her voice”.
The iconic video for “Big Time Sensuality” was shot in black and white and features Björk dancing on the back of a moving truck slowly driving through New York City in the middle of the day. Björk appears on a white dress in her typical hairstyle. The video uses film effects like slow motion and fast motion. The version of the song used in the video is a remix by Fluke. This version is an edit of the full “Fluke Moulimix” that was longer than the edit provided for radio (“The Fluke Minimix”).
The video helped Björk to be known in North America where it received heavy rotation on MTV channels, with many noting that the video was more known in the country than the song: “Few people know how the melody for “Big Time Sensuality” starts, but anyone who watched MTV in the early ’90s could cheerfully belt out the single measure when she sings the words “Big Time Sensuality”
There is also a rare nighttime version which was released only on the Director’s Label The Work of Stephane Sednaoui DVD as well as an uncut alternative daytime version.
