Trailblazing director Diane Martel, who was behind some of the most iconic music videos of the pop era, including the controversial ‘Blurred Lines’ clip, has died of breast cancer at 63.
Born and raised in New York, where she got her start filming the city’s gritty hip hop scene in the early 1990s, Martel broke into the pop scene via her collaborative partnership with Mariah Carey.
She helmed eight of Carey’s videos of that decade, kicking off with Dreamlover and then “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which has amassed almost 900 million views on YouTube.
Martel continued to produce edgy clips for rap artists, including Onyx, Method Man, and Redman, as she became sought-after by the emerging pop artists of the era for her visually striking and provocative style.
She was paired with Christina Aguilera to produce the video for “Genie in a Bottle,” her debut single post-Mickey Mouse Club, and the follow-up hit “What A Girl Want.”
Throughout the 2000s, Martel worked with Justin Timberlake (Like I Love You), Beyonce (Best Thing I Never Had), Alicia Keys (If I Ain’t Got You), and Jennifer Lopez (Get Right).
In 2013, she produced two videos that exploded in controversy – “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, featuring T.I. and Pharrell, and “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus.
The “Blurred Lines” video, which featured the male singers performing with models Emily Ratajkowski, Elle Evans, and Jessi M’Bengue, became a #MeToo flashpoint, with protests over the misogynistic tones of the lyrics and how the men treated the women in the clip.
Martel said her intention for the video was “to deal with the misogynist, funny lyrics in a way where the girls were going to overpower the men.”
In her 2021 memoir “My Body,” Em Rata accused an allegedly inebriated Thicke of sexually assaulting her during the filming, grabbing her breasts.
Martel corroborated the model’s claim, telling The Times in London that “I screamed in my very aggressive Brooklyn voice, ‘What the f–k are you doing, that’s it! The shoot is over!’”
The director worked closely with Cyrus on her vision for the provocative Bangerz era, setting tongues wagging with the sexually-charged “We Can’t Stop” clip.
The pair united for the scandalous mash-up performance of “Blurred Lines” and “We Can’t Stop” at the MTV VMAs, which featured Cyrus twerking on Thicke.
“When you look back at it, you were mad at a 20-year-old dressed as a teddy bear,” Cyrus said two years ago in an interview about her career milestones.
Martel also served as the creative director for the Bangerz world tour.
She formed ongoing collaborations with breakthrough rock acts in the 2000s, including The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, with whom she worked closely for two decades.
The band’s frontman, Alex Kapranos, was among the first artists to pay tribute to the director.
“It’s too soon for me to properly comprehend this. I’m just numb. She was a great artist and if you’re curious about her work, just Google her and you’ll spend hours discovering the incredible work she made,” he posted on Instagram.
“What you won’t learn about is what an astonishing human being she was. A massive support for me in so many ways, as well as being the smartest, wittiest companion. The source of the finest understanding of all art forms, from the highest to the lowest.
“I first met her just over twenty years ago when we made the video for Do You Want To together. I’d never met anyone like her before. Fearless and intellectually ravenous, while being rooted to the street. I’m so fortunate that I knew her. Could call her my friend.
Goodbye, D. Love you so much.”
Martel’s final video credit was for Ciara’s Ecstasy video, which was released in April.
