Billie Jean- Michael Jackson

Billie Jean- Michael Jackson

This may be the most popular song of all time, or at least the past century, and rightly so. Yet on the surface, its story is freakish and disturbing. Jackson’s supreme musical and dancing talents, however, made it a genuine and internationally beloved sensation.

The song’s signature bass line, so familiar and so goosebump-inducing, does much to create an atmosphere of lyrical paranoia. This atmosphere is generally conveyed by the instrumentation, specifically, by the contrast between the slower plod of the drums used in the song, and the more energetic convulsions of the aforesaid bass line, which seem to make sound itself spiral. Both follow simple rhythms, and these rhythms are relatively similar, but the contrast between their differences in energy and their similarities creates a sense of energised discordance, underscoring the song’s paranoid mood.

However, if it wasn’t for Jackson’s childlike, subtly belting, heartfelt vocals, and, of course, the creative and expressive dance moves he developed to accompany the song, whether in its innovative music video or performances of it, it would never have had the impact it did.

It’s precisely this wider contrast between the song’s sense of menace and funky decay, created largely through instrumentation, and the more innocent, family friendly power of Jackson’s delivery (whether in song or dance) that gives it much of its mysterious allure. The authentic emotion that charges it, however, is what makes that allure enduring.