Michael Jackson: Outside of The Box

    Being one of the most famous musicians of all time, most of us have heard at least one song by Michael Jackson. As an long term musician, he spent his whole life in the limelight, reshaping the music industry. Not only did he change the way people view the artistry of performance with several dances among his signature moonwalk, but the king of pop also forever shifted the way that people think about and make music. 

    Out of sheer musical interest, I spent a lot of time doing personal research on the music-making process of this trailblazer in the industry, and I came to a few main conclusions: 1) His extensive knowledge of harmonies, likely from his family band past, add depth and feeling to all his music 2) His showcase of the upper male range was something that had yet to be pioneered in mainstream music, and 3) Jackson was one of the first to utilize vocal percussion in his tracks (arguably the most important point). The fearlessness to pursue such uncharted waters as these musically are bits and pieces that originally set him apart from his musical counterparts in the time period. Among these things, he was unafraid to perform as a dancer while he sang, a tactic known to be made successful in the industry by singers such as Elvis and his predecessors. As I watched the Thriller 40 documentary in my research, I came to learn how all these pieces worked together in careful harmony, pun intended, to create the symphony known Jackson's career. 

    A large part of the milestones in Jackson's career that stood out to me was the political climate of the time period. Right on the heels of the American Civil Rights movement, Michael Jackson began his rise stardom in the public eye as one of very few African American artists to receive any recognition. He worked in a climate where majority of people looked down upon him, his culture, and his freedom for musical expression. Throughout this adversity, I like to say that good music always finds its way to the right audience, and his certainly did. One of his earliest single music videos, "Billie Jean", was the first video by a black artist to play on MTV on television. This was huge for the Black American community, and it became apparent that most wins for Jackson were wins for us all. 

Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"

    I've been reading the novel The Code Breaker by Walter Issacson which is about the scientist Jennirfer Doudna and her journey to the nobel prize and the creation of CRIPSR. It might seem crazy to draw comparisons to the story of a famous biologist and a famous musician, but stay with me because it makes sense under the lense of creativity. Through Issacson, Doudna discusses that the development of CRISPR came from two things: the willingness to think outside of the box and the audacity to act on it. These to me are elements of creativity that are often overlooked. There is an inherent fearlessness in bringing an original idea to the table and it is amplified when one proceeds to act on it and share it with the world. Something that will also always connect the two concepts is what is created from them. The way people use scientific ideas to push them forward into discoveries, many artists cover or intentionally model their work after such influential creatives. 

Here is a Justin Bieber song that is very closely modeled after the aforementioned Michael Jackson song: