The famous Billie Jean became the most famous and commercially successful single of Michael Jackson, whose popularity at one time went beyond all conceivable boundaries. It was with the release of this composition that he appeared before the public as we remember him, and began to turn into a pop icon. What’s more, Billie Jean paved the way for black artists on MTV.
The history of creation and the meaning of the song Billie Jean
Jackson claimed that Billie Jean was based on the experiences of his brothers and fellow members of The Jackson 5, who were constantly harassed by female fans.
Here’s what he had to say about the meaning of the song at a fan meeting in Thailand:
There is a girl named Billie Jean, but this is not the same Billie Jean. This Billie Jean is kind of anonymous. She represents many girls. In the sixties they were called “groupies”. They hung around the doors leading offstage and were ready to get in touch with any band that came to town. I think I wrote this from my brothers and I’s experiences when I was little. There were a lot of those Billie Jeans back then. Each girl claimed that her son was related to one of my brothers.
However, most researchers of Jackson’s work are sure that the history of the Billie Jean song is connected with the personal experiences of the musician. In 1981, he was stalked by a deranged woman who claimed he was the father of one of her twins. Such claims were commonplace for Michael, but at that time the situation was especially difficult.
The woman wrote him one letter after another, and then sent a package with a real gun and an offer to Michael to shoot himself. She promised to do the same so that they could be together in the next life. Later, this fan of Jackson ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
Michael himself composed the words and music. According to Q magazine, it happened at his home studio in Encino. While working on Billie Jean, Jackson was literally obsessed with the song and almost died because of it:
I knew it was going to be a hit since I was writing it. This song completely engulfed me. One day, during a break in a recording session, I was driving down the Ventura Freeway with Nelson Hayes, who was then working with me. I had Billie Jean in my head and all I could think about was her. We were pulling off the highway, and then a guy on a motorcycle drove up to us and said: “Your car is on fire.” Suddenly, we noticed smoke, pulled to the side of the road and realized that the entire lower part of the Rolls-Royce was on fire. That guy may have saved our lives. If the car had exploded, we could have died. But I was so engrossed in the melody playing in my head that it wasn’t until some time later that I thought about the possible dire consequences.
Now it seems incredible, but such a hardened producer as Quincy Jones did not recognize the potential of the song, and he did not like much about it at all. He thought that the name Billie Jean would remind people of the famous tennis player and suggested changing it to Not My Lover. The introduction seemed to him “… so long that you could have had time to shave.” He did not even like the bass part, which Jackson composed over the course of three weeks (not without the influence of Hall & Oats’ I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do). However, Michael convinced Jones to record Billie Jean without changing anything about it.
AI opinion on Billie Jean
Here is how chatbot ChatGPT interprets the main idea and plot of the song:
This song is about a fan who claims to have a child with Michael Jackson. However, Jackson denies this claim, saying that he does not know her and that it is all fiction.
The meaning of the song is about how fame and notoriety can lead to people stalking and even lying about you in order to gain attention. Michael Jackson faced such false accusations in real life and this song is his reaction to it.
The lyrics of the song describe the scene when a woman comes to Michael Jackson and claims that she has a child with him. Michael denies her words and says he doesn’t know her. He also says that she is Billie Jean who is trying to hit on him even though he never had any relationship with her. He tells her to leave and not follow him anymore.
In essence, the song is a warning that fame and notoriety can have negative consequences. People will use your name to gain an advantage and that can get you into trouble. Michael Jackson knew this better than most, and Billie Jean reflects his experience and wisdom.
Thus, Billie Jean is a song about how fame and fame can change a person’s life and lead to false accusations and persecution.
Release and achievements
The Billie Jean single from the album Thriller was released on January 2, 1983. He topped the charts in many countries, became one of the best-selling in the world and received platinum status. The composition was awarded two Grammys and several other prestigious awards. Rolling Stone listed Billie Jean as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Billie Jean has been covered numerous times and remains one of the most sampled songs.
Clip Billie Jean
The music video for the song was directed by Steve Barron. The video had to be launched on MTV, but the management of the then young channel did not want to take clips of black artists. And then the president of the CBS label, Walter Yetnikoff, got down to business. He threatened to remove all their products from MTV and to tell the public about the racial discrimination prevailing on the channel. After that, Billie Jean got into a very active rotation, which contributed to her further popularity.
Let’s watch the online video for the Michael Jackson song.
What is the song about
The song tells about a beautiful girl with whom the artist made love for fun. This is how the line “dance on the floor” is translated, which appears several times in the song. This is a euphemism.
At that moment, everyone envied the artist. But the most fun started later. The girl said that she gave birth to a son from the artist, and he is very similar to him.
But Billie Jean is not his mistress, she is just a girl who claims that the father of her child is Michael Jackson.
The girl developed cunning schemes, but the law was on her side. The artist admits that he has long been warned that it is tedious to be careful in his actions and not just break women’s hearts. Mom always told the artist that you need to be careful in love affairs. The song doesn’t tell how the story ended. But it seems that they had an affair. The singer remembers him not without pleasure.
Were there any like Billie Jean in the artist’s life? It is quite possible, because he was infantile and was never able to build a relationship with two women. He must have had casual sex with random women.
The dramatic nature of the situation is that a few years later the artist faced real accusations, and not from women.
The meaning of the song
Perhaps the meaning of the song is that if you are rich and popular, there will definitely be someone who wants to cash in on you or get a little attention to his person through you. Such was the beautiful Billie Jean.
A similar tragedy happened to the singer about ten years after the release of the song. Then he was accused of child molestation. By the way, this thing is as difficult to prove as random children before DNA tests were invented. Michael Jackson was acquitted, but it dealt a severe blow to his fragile psyche and led to a downtime in his career. From 1995-96, the artist had a serious creative crisis, from which he never fully got out.
Unfortunately people are cruel. And anyone can say. Unfortunately, most often they slander naive and kind people, like Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson Lyrics
She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene
I said don’t mind, but what do you mean, I am the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round
She said I am the one, who will dance on the floor in the round
She told me her name was Billie Jean, as she caused a scene
Then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round
People always told me be careful of what you do
And don’t go around breaking young girls’ hearts
And mother always told me be careful of who you love
And be careful of what you do ’cause the lie becomes the truth
Billie Jean is not my lover
She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the kid is not my son
She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son
For forty days and forty nights
The law was on her side
But who can stand when she’s in demand
Her schemes and plans
‘Cause we danced on the floor in the round
So take my strong advice, just remember to always think twice
(Don’t think twice, don’t think twice)
She told my baby we’d danced till three, then she looked at me
Then showed a photo my baby cried his eyes were like mine (oh, no!)
‘Cause we danced on the floor in the round, baby
People always told me be careful of what you do
And don’t go around breaking young girls’ hearts
She came and stood right by me
Just the smell of sweet perfume
This happened much too soon
She called me to her room
