“Michael Jackson’s shadow is too big”: Every generation looks for the king of pop music, but only sees the prince

To become the king of pop to succeed Michael Jackson, names like Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Jungkook or any future “pop prince” should not become copies of Jackson, but must be themselves.

After Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber, Jungkook (left) is considered to have the potential to succeed the king of pop music – Photo: Big Hit, Wallpaperflare

“Jungkook Jackson”, “the lost son of Michael Jackson” are some of the compliments that fans of Jungkook (27 years old), the youngest member of the group BTS, exclaimed after watching the MV Standing My Next To You.

In one scene, Jungkook wears an intricately embroidered black vest reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s famous military jacket, and his dance is clearly inspired by the king of music’s legendary moves. pop like “crotch grab”, “moonwalk”, “robot”…

Every generation looks for Michael Jackson

After Jungkook’s MV was released, on YouTube there was a clip created by fans combining Standing Next To You and Michael Jackson’s MV Smooth Criminal.

If Jungkook’s MV purely brings youthfulness, entertainment and comfort, with the male singer’s high-pitched and elegant voice, then Michael Jackson’s MV, even though it was released 35 years ago, still exudes a strange and unfathomably haunting, with MJ’s voice both exciting, threatening, and frightening.

However, the strange thing is that the combination of two MVs and two songs is quite smooth!

Since Michael Jackson stepped out of the family group The Jackson 5 and single-handedly took the 1980s by storm, every generation has been looking forward to finding their own Michael Jackson.

In the early 2000s, Justin Timberlake from the famous boy band N’Sync emerged, and right in his debut solo single Like I Love You, he was said to be deeply influenced by Michael Jackson’s singing style. He also sang Rock Your Body, a song originally written for Michael Jackson but rejected by him.

By the 2010s, the title “little Michael Jackson” was transferred to Justin Bieber.

He wrote Pray inspired by Man in The Mirror, made the album Believe inspired by Billie Jean, and even produced a duet version with Michael Jackson of the song Slave to the Rhythm.

As for the 2020s, Jungkook is now a great hope in terms of popularity, versatility, and ability to create trends like the seniors mentioned above. What Jungkook, Timberlake, Bieber and Jackson have in common is that they started singing and becoming famous when they were teenagers, even children.

Jungkook is the new pride of Asia when compared to the pop princes of Europe and America – Photo: Big Hit

Jungkook and Timberlake have one more similarity with Jackson: all three are the youngest brothers in famous bands (BTS, N’Sync and The Jackson 5, respectively).

On social networks, an audience named all three along with Harry Styles (One Direction), Robbie Williams (Take That)… to conclude: “The youngest of famous boybands all made history.”

But there is one thing only Jungkook shares with Jackson: they are both people of color ambitious to conquer America – the world’s largest music market, where white people still dominate. That allows their music to be rich and diverse.

Look at both Timberlake and Bieber. The careers of the two stars once shone brightly during each of their peak decades but soon faded, eventually stopping as “pop princes” and not being able to receive Michael’s “king” scepter. Jackson. Can Jungkook?

The song Standing Next To You is included in Jungkook’s first solo album titled Golden released in early November. In terms of data, Jungkook deserves the throne, when the album sold nearly 2.5 million copies in less than a week. .

In terms of content, the 11 songs in Golden demonstrate Jungkook’s vocal range one after another. He can be gentle and poignant in ballads like Hate you or Shot Glass of Tears and can also be accelerated and funky. , improvised) in R&B-oriented songs like 3D or Seven.

However, the general atmosphere in Golden is the vivacity of youth, even the “too sad to dance” melodies (Too Sad To Dance) have bright colors, without many layers of meaning underneath to dig through. .

It doesn’t have to be far, just compared to BTS’s own albums, Golden is still “lightweight”, less experimental and much less ambitious.

Jungkook’s performance was smooth and smooth, but did not go beyond the audience’s imagination of what he could do. He does not compose, does not produce, does not have any aesthetic stamp of his own.

Michael Jackson’s throne in pop music is difficult to reach because of his outstanding artistic level – Photo: AP

What about Michael Jackson? In the early solo albums like Forever, Michael or Got to Be There with the classic soul genre, were you outstanding? Have. But it wasn’t until Off The Wall twisted soul material into strangely captivating music, turning Michael Jackson from a noun into an adjective, that he was officially crowned king.

Quincy Jones, producer of Off The Wall, recalled that when he was just a promising young star, Michael Jackson made an impression by knowing every song and knowing every other person’s dance move.

But he is not a copy of anyone. One time, Jones heard Jackson mispronouncing the philosopher’s name “Socrates”, Jones immediately reminded Jackson and he widened his eyes.

“It was the surprise in his eyes that locked me in. I knew the two of us could enter completely unexplored territory, a place that gave me goosebumps as a jazz musician” – Jones recalls .

Difference between prince and king

Smoothness and safety are only necessary when being a prince, not necessary if you want to be a king. The ability to imitate is not the starting point for Michael Jackson’s “kingdom”, but the ability to be surprised, to want to do different things and make the other person’s skin crawl. No king plays music safely.

To succeed Michael Jackson, perhaps what Jungkook or any future “pop prince” needs to do is not to become Jackson, but to break out and become himself. That road is still long.