Diane Martel, a trailblazing music video director known for crafting provocative visuals for Mariah Carey, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, died of breast cancer on Thursday. She was 63.
“Diane passed away peacefully at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital — surrounded by friends and family — after a long battle with breast cancer,” her family said in a statement.
“She is survived by her aunt, Gail Merrifield Papp (wife of Joseph Papp, founder of the Public Theatre), her three beloved, loyal cats (Poki, PopPop, PomPom), and many loving lifetime friends,” the statement continued.
Born on May 7, 1962 in New York City, Martel cut her teeth directing videos for hip-hop and R&B acts such as Onyx, SWV, Gang Starr, Method Man and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
Her creative relationship with Mariah Carey began in 1993 when she directed the music video for “Dreamlover.” That collaboration gave birth to many more, including the videos for “The Roof,” “My All,” “Heartbreaker (Remix)” and the ubiquitous holiday tune, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
The latter, a low-fi, home video-styled clip featuring Carey frolicking in the snow with Santa, has since amassed nearly one billion views on YouTube.
As Martel’s popularity grew through the late ’90s and early 2000s, she became an in-demand director for pop music upstarts like Christina Aguilera (“Genie In a Bottle” and “What a Girl Wants”), Justin Timberlake (“Like I Love You”) and Britney Spears (“3”).
She also helmed projects for the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, John Legend and Beyoncé.
In 2013, Martel directed the video for Robin Thicke’s highly controversial “Blurred Lines,” which was called out for being misogynistic and sexist.
“I wanted to deal with the misogynist, funny lyrics in a way where the girls were going to overpower the men,” Martel told Grantland later than year, while defending the video. “I directed the girls to look into the camera, this is very intentional and they do it most of the time; they are in the power position. I don’t think the video is sexist. … I find it meta and playful.”
Instagram / dianemartel
Miley Cyrus and Diane Martel. (Instagram / dianemartel)
Another Martel visual that went viral was Miley Cyrus’ breakthrough music video for “We Can’t Stop,” also released in 2013.
“Miley and I wanted to make a trippy, f—ed-up video that was like a giant selfie,” she said about the video featuring the former Disney star wearing gold grillz while on a bed in a white bra and hot pants.
In addition to three other videos, Martel also served as the creative director for Cyrus’ MTV Video Music Awards performance and her 2014 Bangerz Tour.
In more recent years, Martel teamed up with Coldplay, The 1975, Elling Goulding, Franz Ferdinand and Marcus Mumford. Her latest video, for Ciara’s “Ecstasy,” was released earlier this year.
The Grammy winner and frequent collaborator paid tribute in an Instagram post on Friday featuring a number of clips from their projects.
“You believed in me and I believed in you!” Ciara wrote. “You will forever hold a special place in my heart and I am forever grateful for all the magic we were able to make together.”
