Uptown is the third Prince video to have been released for broadcast to promote the release of a single. Shooting took place in Los Angeles on 24 October 1980 in the afternoon in front of a local audience.
Similar to the Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? visual promo, this video shows Prince and his band lip-syncing to a live performance. The band plays on stripped down version of the Dirty Mind Tour concert stage, that was used for both this video and Dirty Mind, shot the same day.
Wardrobe wise, a significant change is made from the I Wanna Be Your Lover (band version) and Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? videos as Prince wears the same outfit seen on Dirty Mind album cover. This marks an additional Prince trademark for videos: the distinctive look he adopts for albums and single covers and/or while on tour will be systematically used for videos.
Of note the video features the first appearance of Lisa Coleman in a Prince video.
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