MICHAEL JACKSON - BILLIE JEAN

Publicació: 2 de gener de 1983

Llistes: Regne Unit: #1 (1 setmana) EUA: #1 (7 setmanes)

"Billie Jean" és el segon senzill del seu sisè àlbum d'estudi de 1982, "Thriller". Va ser escrit i composat per Jackson i produït per Jackson i Quincy Jones. Jackson va dir que Quincy Jones volia canviar el títol a "Not My Lover" perquè pensava que es confondria amb l'estrella del tennis Billie Jean King, però MJ va acabar guanyant aquesta batalla i es va mantenir el títol. 

"Billie Jean" és una història sobre un home a qui li diuen que és pare i que es nega a creure-ho: "The kid is not my son (El nen no és el meu fill)". A la seva autobiografia, Jackson va dir que havia estat envoltat per Billie Jeans quan era nen. Quan els Jackson 5 estaven de gira, va afirmar Jackson, havia noies que deien que s'havien quedat embarassades dels seus germans grans. Jackson estava desconcertat i disgustat. Potser no va ser tan fàcil tampoc per a ell. Jackson, ja molt famós, tenia una acosadora. Quincy Jones afirma que una dona pertorbada va escriure cartes de Jackson, afirmant que el seu fill era d’ell. Ella suposadament li va dir que el mataria a una hora determinada, i després es mataria ella mateixa i el nadó perquè poguessin estar tots junts. Jackson va escriure "Billie Jean" el 1981, el mateix any que John Hinkley, Jr. va disparar a Ronald Reagan, només uns mesos després que Mark David Chapman assassinés John Lennon. Jackson tenia motius per tenir por.

"Billie Jean" és una peça absolutament màgica de dance-pop, però també és una cançó dura de enuig  i paranoia. A "Off The Wall", Jackson era un cantant elegant i exuberant. A "Billie Jean", Jackson s'ha convertit en un sac de tics. Utilitza la seva veu com a instrument de percussió, grunyint i tartamudejant, amb sanglots.

Jackson va composar el ritme de "Billie Jean" a casa, programant ell mateix la seva caixa de ritmes. A la demo de 1981, la lletra està a mig acabar i en algun tall, Jackson només murmura paraules sense forma, només per mantenir la melodia. Però el ritme en si ja està totalment creat. Jackson es va inspirar en una altra cançó quan l’escrivia. Daryl Hall afirma que Jackson li va confessar entre bastidors quan gravaben “We are the World” que es va inspirar en la cançó "I can't go for that (No can do)" per al ritme de “Billie Jean”, però a Hall no li va importar massa i no li va donar importància. Per la seva banda, Quincy Jones va insistir en què Jackson va treure les notes de "Billie Jean" de la versió de 1982 de Donna Summer de "State of independence", una cançó de 1981 de Jon Anderson i Vangelis.

Steve Barron, el director que va dirigir els vídeos de "Don’t you want me?" de Human League i "Africa" ​​de Toto va dirigir "Billie Jean". Jackson i Jones el van reclutar perquè els agradava "Don't You Want Me?" "Billie Jean" està considerat com un dels grans vídeos musicals de tots els temps. Al vídeo, Jackson camina pel carrer i les lloses s'il·luminen sota els seus peus. Una misteriosa figura vestida amb gavardina persegueix Jackson, presumiblement amb mala intenció, però es trovarà amb els poders màgics de Jackson que li faran la guitza. Jackson no apareix en una foto polaroid que li fa. MJ llança una moneda a la tassa d'un home sense sostre i, de sobte, el sense sostre porta un vestit blanc elegant. Al final del vídeo, Jackson desapareix en l'aire, i els policies vénen a arrestar el tipus de la gavardina en el seu lloc.

Una altra cosa va passar mentre "Billie Jean" estava al número 1: Michael Jackson va actuar a l'especial de Motown 25. Aleshores, Jackson feia anys que no enregistrava per a Motown, però va acceptar reunir-se amb la formació original de Jackson 5 al programa si també podia fer una actuació en solitari. A l'escenari de l'Auditori Cívic de Pasadena un parell de setmanes després que "Billie Jean" arribés al número 1, Jackson va sincronitzar els llavis amb "Billie Jean" davant d'una multitud posada en peu. (Els productors de l'espectacle no pensaven que la banda en directe pogués replicar prou bé la música de suport de "Billie Jean".) L'actuació de Jackson al Motown 25 és una meravella i arriba al seu clímax quan Jackson fa el moonwalk per primera vegada entre els crits d’admiració del públic. Michael Jackson no va inventar el moonwalk, tot i que li va donar nom al moviment. Segons la llegenda, Jackson va aprendre el moviment de Jeffrey Daniel de Shalamar després d'haver vist que Daniel el fes a Soul Train. Aquesta també va ser la primera vegada que Jackson va portar el seu famós guant blanc a l'escenari, en aquell moment era un guant de golf modificat. En les interpretacions posteriors de la cançó, Jackson va utilitzar coreografies similars, sempre sorprenent la multitud amb el Moonwalk, que es va convertir en el seu moviment de ball emblemàtic. 34 milions de persones van sintonitzar NBC per veure Motown 25. Dues d'aquestes persones eren Fred Astaire i Gene Kelly, i tots dos van trucar a Jackson l'endemà per felicitar-lo.

Jackson va rodar un anunci de Pepsi el 1984 interpretant “Billie Jean” amb la lletra alterada per cantar els elogis del refresc. El nen de la jaqueta vermella és Alfonso Ribeiro, l'estrella de "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". Durant el rodatge, els seus cabellses van incendiar per la pirotècnia i el van traslladar d'urgència a l'hospital. L'anunci es va emetre als premis Grammy d’aquell any.

"Billie Jean" i Thriller van encapçalar tant les llistes de senzills com d'àlbums la mateixa setmana. Això va passar als Estats Units i al Regne Unit simultàniament, una gesta que pocs artistes han assolir mai.

MICHAEL JACKSON - BILLIE JEAN

Released : January 2, 1983

Charted:  UK: #1 (1 wk)  US: #1 (7 wks)

“Billie Jean” is the second single from his 1982’s sixth studio album, “Thriller”. It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. Jackson said that Quincy Jones wanted to change the title to "Not My Lover" because he thought it would be confused with the tennis star Billie Jean King. Jackson ended up winning that battle.

“Billie Jean” is a story about a man who’s being told he’s a father and who refuses to believe it: “The kid is not my son.” In his autobiography, Jackson said that he’d been surrounded by Billie Jeans as a child. When the Jackson 5 were on tour, Jackson claimed, girls would try to say that they’d gotten pregnant by his older brothers. Jackson was baffled and disgusted. It may not have been so simple. Jackson, already insanely famous, had a stalker. Quincy Jones claims that a disturbed woman wrote Jackson letters, claiming her son was his. She supposedly told him to kill himself at a particular hour, that she’d kill herself and the baby at the same time so that they could all be together. Jackson wrote “Billie Jean” in 1981, the same year that John Hinkley, Jr. shot Ronald Reagan, just a few months after Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon. Jackson had reason to be afraid.

“Billie Jean” is an absolutely magical piece of dance-pop, but it’s also a hard and angry and paranoid record. On “Off The Wall”, Jackson was a graceful and exuberant singer. On “Billie Jean,” Jackson has become a bundle of tics. He uses his voice as a percussion instrument, grunting and stuttering and hiccuping and yelping, a feathery, tourettic version of James Brown’s old style. He sounds like he’s trying to break his way out of the track.

For Jackson, the groove came first. Jackson came up with the “Billie Jean” groove at home, programming his drum machine himself. In Jackson’s 1981 “Billie Jean” demo, the lyrics are half-finished, and Jackson sometimes just mutters unformed words just to keep the melody. But the beat itself is already fully formed. Jackson may have taken bits and pieces of that groove from elsewhere. Daryl Hall claims that the “Billie Jean” groove is the groove from Hall & Oates’ 1982 chart-topper “ I can’t go for that (No can do).” Hall has said that Jackson admitted this to him backstage, and Hall never seemed too worried about it. For his part, Quincy Jones has insisted that Jackson stole “Billie Jean” notes from Donna Summer’s 1982 cover of “State of independence”, a 1981 song from Jon Anderson and Vangelis.

Steve Barron, the director who’d helmed videos for the Human League’s “Don’t you want me?” and Toto’s “Africa” directed “Billie Jean.” Jackson and Jones recruited him because they liked “Don’t You Want Me?” “Billie Jean” has a rep as being one of the all-time great music videos. In the video Jackson struts down the street, and slabs of concrete light up under his feet. A mysterious trench-coated figure stalks Jackson, presumably with ill intent, but he discovers Jackson’s magical powers. Jackson won’t show up in a Polaroid. He tosses a coin into a homeless guy’s cup, and the homeless guy suddenly has a fancy white suit on. In the end, Jackson disappears into thin air, and cops come to arrest the guy in the trench coat.

Another thing happened while “Billie Jean” was at #1: Michael Jackson performed at the Motown 25 special. At that point, Jackson hadn’t recorded for Motown in years, but he agreed to reunite with the original Jackson 5 lineup on the show if he could also get a solo performance. Onstage at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium a couple of weeks after “Billie Jean” hit #1, Jackson lip-synced to “Billie Jean” in front of an amped-up crowd. (The show’s producers didn’t think the live band could replicate the “Billie Jean” backing track well enough.) Jackson’s Motown 25 performance is a physical marvel, and it hits its climax on the bridge, when Jackson moonwalks for the first time. When Jackson hits the moonwalk, you can hear the crowd lose its collective mind. Michael Jackson didn’t invent the moonwalk, though he did give the move its name. According to legend, Jackson learned the move from Shalamar’s Jeffrey Daniel after he’d seen Daniel hit the move on Soul Train. This was also the first time Jackson wore his famous white glove on stage - at the time it was a modified golf glove. In subsequent performances of the song, Jackson used similar choreography, always wowing the crowd with the Moonwalk, which became his signature dance move. 34 million people tuned in to NBC to watch Motown 25. Two of those people were Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and both of them called Jackson the next day to congratulate him.

Jackson shot a Pepsi commercial in 1984 performing this with the lyrics altered to sing the praises of the soda. The red jacket kid is “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s” star Alfonso Ribeiro. During the shoot, his hair caught fire from the pyrotechnics and he was rushed to the hospital. The commercial aired on the Grammy awards. 

Quincy Jones discussed this song in a radio interview printed in Radio Times. The “Thriller” producer recalled: "The intro to 'Billie Jean' was so long you could shave during it. I said we had to get to the melody sooner…but Michael said that was what made him want to dance. And when Michael Jackson says something makes him want to dance, you don't argue, so he won."

"Billie Jean" and Thriller topped both the singles and album charts in the same week. This occurred on US and UK simultaneously, a feat very few acts have ever achieved.