10 years ago I started one of the longest projects that I’ve been involved with: my video campaign to meet Madonna! Being a fan since 1984, when I first saw her singing “Dress You Up” during the Virgin Tour, this campaign is a life achievement actually. I met so many people, had so much fun and my videos are also therapeutic for me when I am having a bad day: I just watch some of them and laugh thinking about the story behind each of them. Regardless of not (yet) properly meeting Madonna (not counting the number of times that she interacted with me during her concerts – talking or holding my hand), I still believe in one day meeting her to thank her for all the joy, hope and courage that she brought to my life (of course that there are so many other things that I would like to talk to her). And I’m going to apply for the Guiness Book of the Record for the following achievements:

• Longest campaign to meet an idol (10 years)
• Most videos made for a campaign to meet an artist: #53 up to now
• Most number of countries in a video campaign to meet an artist (23): Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bolivia, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Vatican City, Thailand, The Netherlands.

Celebrating this milestone, I’ve decided to make the video of one my favorite Madonna’s song: Beautiful Stranger. I still remember when I surprisingly listened to it in 1999, when actually I was waiting for the video/single from Skin, which was supposed to be the last single of Ray of Light. And I fell in love with it and I have been continuously listening to this song up to today. Originally, this video was supposed to have a mix of the demo and the original version, produced by William Orbit. But since Madonna announced her new collection “Finally Enough Love” featuring the Calderone Radio Mix, I’ve decided to re-edit the video with it (fun fact: while editing it, I realized that Madonna vocals on remix are 5% faster than the original one – so I had also to speed up my footage to have a perfect sync).

Finally, this video was recorded last January in Cumbuco Beach, in Brazil, with my specials guests: my fiancée Daniel Schepers and my sister, Fabiana Viana.