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In Chris Brown‘s video for “Crawl,” the singer pines for a girl (singer Cassie) as he makes his way through a snow-covered city, his heart glowing under his shirt. Eventually Brown finds himself dancing alone in the desert and never actually makes a connection with the girl, even when they come face to face.

The video’s director, Joseph Kahn, insists that the deeply personal clip was all of Brown’s creation. “The entire video for ‘Crawl’ was his idea. I’m talking every single idea in there is Chris’, and it’s pretty awesome,” Kahn told MTV News. “It’s an interesting video for me, because it’s so rare that music videos ever try to achieve anything emotional. With ‘Crawl’ you feel it in here [points to his heart].

“Chris just basically told me a story of what he felt this video was going to be, with his heart glowing and how he’s, like, cold. It is a very personal story,” Kahn continued. “But it’s told in such a graphic manner that I fell in love with the idea. It’s Chris’ story. Period. I am the pencil that put it down on the paper.”

Working with Brown as he deals with fallout from his assault on Rihanna might be difficult for other directors, but Kahn is also the guy that directed Britney’s “Womanizer” comeback video after her public breakdown. “I seem to be the guy that record companies go to when they need help,” he joked. “I truly feel he is remorseful. You don’t drop people just because they made a mistake [even if it was a big mistake].”

Kahn noted that Brown is uniquely talented — so talented that he honestly believes that Brown can achieve the same type of fame that Michael Jackson did in his lifetime. “They talk about who can step in Michael’s footsteps?” he said. “I mean he is, like, Michael Two. The way he dances, the way he moves, the way he sings — it’s, like, so next-level.”

SOURCE: MTV