of the workers..." Critical reception "Stranger in Moscow" received praise from music critics and producers. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted of HIStory, "Jackson produces some well-crafted pop that ranks with his best material... 'Stranger in Moscow' is one of his most haunting ballads". Tom Molley of the Associated Press described it as an "ethereal and stirring description of a man wounded by a 'swift and sudden fall from grace' walking in the shadow of the Kremlin". Longtime collaborator Bruce Swedien, has described "Stranger in Moscow" as one of the best songs Jackson had ever done. Fred Shuster of the Daily News of Los Angeles described it as, "a lush, pretty minor-key ballad with one of the album's catchiest choruses". Chris Willman of Los Angeles Times stated: A reviewer from Music Week rated it five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. The reviewer added, "More melodic than most of HIStorys new, uptempo tracks, this has a somewhat old-fashioned feel, being closer in spirit to Rock With You than Scream. It isn't quite vintage Jacko, but the song is irresistible." The magazine's Alan Jones stated that the Todd Terry remix "works like a dream, and guarantees Jackson another substantial hit." Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated, "The ballads are lavishly melodic. 'Stranger In Moscow', with odd lyrics like 'Stalin's tomb won't let me be,' has a beautiful chorus for the repeated question 'How does it feel?' ". Further praise came in 2005 when it was felt that the song had successfully portrayed "eerie loneliness" and was characterized as beautiful by Josephine Zohny of PopMatters. Rod Temperton, one of Jackson's songwriters from earlier in his career, believes that "Stranger in Moscow" is Jackson's best song. James Hunter of Rolling Stone commented: Patrick Macdonald of The Seattle Times described "Stranger in Moscow" as "a pretty ballad interspersed with sounds of rain." David Sinclair from The Times viewed it as "a dolorous ballad". Music video The song's accompanying music video, directed by photographer Nick Brandt, and filmed in Los Angeles, is focused around six unrelated people living in isolation in a cityscape on a dark, cloudy day while the rest of the world moves around them in slow motion (introducing the so-called 'bullet time' effect). The first half of the video introduces these figures. Five of the figures are: a bald man looking down at the city from