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Did anybody else get tired of MJ's "anti-tabloid" songs?

Hard disagree, saying those songs in particular get old (rather than saying "I have to be in the mood for these songs/this genre") is like saying "I love you, but sometimes you're too honest about your pain and I don't want you to be" which... is a reaction I've gotten a lot when talking to people who say they care but don't actually care enough to hold space for me. It feels weird to read this here. I don't think they all sounded the same. They were distinctly Michael's sound, but not identical, sometimes the songs were strung together into the same short films so of course they'll share certain elements.

I personally enjoy the songs because I also often feel misunderstood and made out to be a freak even though I'm a cluster of many marginalized identities in one person who doesn't always pick up on social cues with the way people deliver them, but those few petty, judgemental people blow things out of proportion in such a way that they make it seem like I'm a horrible person to others in similar circles because they completely twisted my words/responses to fit their own narrative. Its like they can't fathom someone saying what I say genuinely and have to take it the only way they would use it.

Plus, the paparazzi are traitors to the working class, so I think he can shit on all of them for practically destroying his reputation as a loving humanitarian, now most non-fans will only admit to "he was a great entertainer" if that, but shy away from anything else about how much he advocated for children and adults who have been oppressed.
 
Graynbow said:
Hard disagree, saying those songs in particular get old (rather than saying "I have to be in the mood for these songs/this genre") is like saying "I love you, but sometimes you're too honest about your pain and I don't want you to be" which... is a reaction I've gotten a lot when talking to people who say they care but don't actually care enough to hold space for me. It feels weird to read this here. I don't think they all sounded the same. They were distinctly Michael's sound, but not identical, sometimes the songs were strung together into the same short films so of course they'll share certain elements.

I personally enjoy the songs because I also often feel misunderstood and made out to be a freak even though I'm a cluster of many marginalized identities in one person who doesn't always pick up on social cues with the way people deliver them, but those few petty, judgemental people blow things out of proportion in such a way that they make it seem like I'm a horrible person to others in similar circles because they completely twisted my words/responses to fit their own narrative. Its like they can't fathom someone saying what I say genuinely and have to take it the only way they would use it.

Plus, the paparazzi are traitors to the working class, so I think he can shit on all of them for practically destroying his reputation as a loving humanitarian, now most non-fans will only admit to "he was a great entertainer" if that, but shy away from anything else about how much he advocated for children and adults who have been oppressed.
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I'm sorry to read that you struggle to be understood by those around you, it sounds like a hard way to live. I'm glad you find comfort in MJ songs.

In reference to certain songs, for me, it's more like 'I love you, but I've heard this truth a few times before, how many times are we going to go over the same thing'. It's like listening to that one friend that can't move on.

When I refer to the songs risking sounding like a broken record, I mean that with respect to their thematic perspective not their musical sound. For example, HTW and ES share the same theme of saving the planet and ourselves, but they each approach it from a different lens and you end up with two very different perspectives exploring the same theme. I would say the same for Scream and TJ. By the time we get to TTA, DS, 2B, unbreakable, threatened and privacy, even though the songs sound musically different to each other, thematically they are all approaching it from the same lens, they are all angry songs about one upmanship over a threat and the injustice of it all.

I think one of those songs per album would've sufficed to prevent it sounding like a broken record.
It just feels like he got stuck in this theme and it would've been nice to see him evolve from it.
 
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jasmine.uddin said:
I'm sorry to read that you struggle to be understood by those around you, it sounds like a hard way to live. I'm glad you find comfort in MJ songs.

In reference to certain songs, for me, it's more like 'I love you, but I've heard this truth a few times before, how many times are we going to go over the same thing'. It's like listening to that one friend that can't move on.

When I refer to the songs risking sounding like a broken record, I mean that with respect to their thematic perspective not their musical sound. For example, HTW and ES share the same theme of saving the planet and ourselves, but they each approach it from a different lens and you end up with two very different perspectives exploring the same theme. I would say the same for Scream and TJ. By the time we get to TTA, DS, 2B, unbreakable, threatened and privacy, even though the songs sound musically different to each other, thematically they are all approaching it from the same lens, they are all angry songs about one upmanship over a threat and the injustice of it all.

I think one of those songs per album would've sufficed to prevent it sounding like a broken record.
It just feels like he got stuck in this theme and it would've been nice to see him evolve from it.
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I wouldn't say it's overdone or something he should evolve/move-on from because he was pretty phenominal in his sense of profound love for pretty much everyone, I think he's allowed to be stuck on and re-complain about something continuously when it's been a main**(ongoing) source of his pain (on top of his chronic physical pain and other invisible/visible disabilities). I think he was more evolved than most people artistically and as a person, as much as someone who was too young to meet him (before... you know) could possibly know about him through his music, interviews, home videos, friends' statements, court documents, (real) documentaries, etc. **

If we apply that same argument of theme, that's an extremely high standard because then all music is overdone because everyone has written songs about the same things, just in different genres or different vocal ranges or instruments or whatever.

Thematically each song is also slightly different. (and not about tabloids at all, like a few people have already mentioned, but these are my own interpretations of each song that OP listed:

Leave Me Alone is more self-focused on feeling bothered, encroached upon, taken advantage of (directed at a feeling of facing slanderous stories and selfish people who he gave and gave to)

Why You Wanna Trip On Me is like "yeah I'm weird, but there are ACTUAL problems out in the world that you could help do something about"

Scream is saying in a duet "I/We're tired, aren't you?" and highlighting systemic problems which affect everyone, including the tabloid workers

This Time Around is directed probably at the Evan C. with a rap from Nortorious B.I.G. talking about shady "friends" and wire-taps, etc.

Money is about general greed and/or desparation for money, not even just against him (groupies, tabloids, fake friends, false accusers, ppl making various forms of content about him), but also about people who make money from things like war (like almost all nation-states, gas companies, most major international companies that invest in government weaponry, etc - which includes soldiers who kill), but also insurance companies, etc.

Tabloid Junkie is focused yes on the tabloids similar to Leave Me Alone, but this one is much more directly addressing the people who both make and read the tabloids and acknowledging it wouldn't sell/exist if there wasn't such a massive profit from everyone's addiction to dramatization and bad/weird news

Unbreakable is more like a "you can't believe/concieve [someone being as good as I am (good morally or good in skill)] and nothing you do, not even your hate and jealousy will successfully change me as a person, I'll never be what you so desparately need me to be to fit your own narrative"

Privacy - he was grieving Princess Diana and they both were good people who had a common experience of being attacked more than most by the tabloid press

Threatened is him embracing the fact that some people choose to feel threatened by him (rather than see opportunity for collaboration or seeing what the rest of us see) and instead of saying "no I don't know why people think I'm worthy of a lynch mob (other than racism)" to "you know what? fine, you should feel threatened, you'll never be half the man I am and your seeing a villain in me is proof of that"

if that's not evolving in theme, idk what is.

**edited for clarity
 
Graynbow said:
Why You Wanna Trip On Me is like "yeah I'm weird, but there are ACTUAL problems out in the world that you could help do something about"

This Time Around is directed probably at the Evan C. with a rap from Nortorious B.I.G. talking about shady "friends" and wire-taps, etc.

Money is about general greed and/or desparation for money, not even just against him

Threatened is him embracing the fact that some people choose to feel threatened by him
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I'd agree on these songs not strictly following the theme. I never considered those tabloid attacks.
 
Fuzball said:
Why do some believe LMA's an anti-tabloid song?
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Because the video plays with the topic and because MJ writes in Moonwalk that the song is actually directed at the people who harass him.
 
It was also confirmed by the official Michael Jackson website:

"'Leave Me Alone' was the first of Michael's songs to directly comment on the media frenzy that often surrounded him ... The 'Leave Me Alone' short film features images of Michael singing from the fronts of various tabloids and newspapers ... We follow Michael as he guides the rocket through various send-ups of press reports from his life and career ... [Michael] is "hounded" by members of the press, represented as dogs superimposed onto human bodies"

But it should be noted also that many of those media/press stories (depicted in that music video) were intentionally disseminated by him along with his then-manager Frank DiLeo (for promotional purposes).
 
Fuzball said:
lmao😂

Have you forgotten what they've written about 'Money"?
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This does not mean that what they wrote about 'Leave Me Alone' was incorrect.

After all, if you cannot realize that from all those visuals of the 'Leave Me Alone' music video, then there is nothing I can do about it.
 
"Leave Me Alone" wasn't really about the tabloids. The underlying message of the song was MJ telling the world to leave him alone, but the lyrics themselves only pertain to a failed relationship between a man and woman.

"Why You Wanna Trip on Me" was the first song MJ did that was specifically about people talking about him.
 
Spaceship said:
"Why You Wanna Trip on Me" was the first song MJ did that was specifically about people talking about him.
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Price of Fame?

I'd like to take sometime and get away, then they'll say
Is that boy still alive?
 
Spaceship said:
"Leave Me Alone" wasn't really about the tabloids. The underlying message of the song was MJ telling the world to leave him alone, but the lyrics themselves only pertain to a failed relationship between a man and woman.

"Why You Wanna Trip on Me" was the first song MJ did that was specifically about people talking about him.
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Interestingly though, he still directs 'Why You Wanna Trip On Me' at a single person – again a girl. In the second half of the song he uses the word 'baby' and 'mama' over and over, like he is telling his opinion to one single person. He also sings "Everybody just stop trippin'", so he isn't talking about just this lady, but he IS directing it at her.

[Chorus]
(Why)
(Why) Why you wanna trip on me?
(Why)
(Why, why)
(Why)
(Why) Why you wanna trip on me?
(Why) (Baby, no, no, no)
(Why, why) (No, don't you trip to me, mama)
(Why) (Baby)
(Why) Why you wanna trip on me?
(Why) (No, no, no, no, no)
(Why, why) (No, don't you trip on me, mama)
(Why) (Baby)
(Why) Why you wanna trip on me?
(Why) (No, no, no, no)
 
Do people get tired of his dance tunes? His anthems? His love songs? His heartbreak tunes.

No, you just pick your favorites and move on.

Price of Fame, Tabloid Junkie, and Xscape, those are my favorites. Leave Me Alone is also great.

Privacy, I'm not gonna spend much time on personally but that's that.

I think the whole HIStory album in particular was actually a peak for MJ.
 
Being personal can be a problem though. It means people can't associate with the song as easily. I can't relate because I don't know what it's like, therefore I don't find myself singing Tabloid Junkie to myself. Similarly, I could never stand on stage and sing that song. So those songs don't really get cover versions.
 
R1chard said:
Being personal can be a problem though. It means people can't associate with the song as easily. I can't relate because I don't know what it's like, therefore I don't find myself singing Tabloid Junkie to myself. Similarly, I could never stand on stage and sing that song. So those songs don't really get cover versions.
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There's nothing personal about Billie Jean either though.
 
I haven't read the thread. But at least, anti-tabloid song are a change from placeholder-lyrics love songs. That's what I get tired of sometimes, not about MJ but in general.

R1chard said:
It means people can't associate with the song as easily. I can't relate because I don't know what it's like...
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There's that all that thing that people "need to relate to" various type of creations they watch/read/listen to/play... I often wonder why... When I'm "consuming" some creation/art , if the message it carries is intelligible and interesting (or entertaining), I don't need to related to the characters, I think one can also have empathy for the "characters"... (Now there a different kind of "personal" is "being cryptic".. but that's not MJ's style... well most of the time.)
 
I don't need MJ songs to be relatable to like them either. I mean how relatable is Thriller or Smooth Criminal or even BOTD. But I do need MJ songs to be original, and some of those angry songs he did later on stopped sounding original.
 
Nope. Songs like that are strong and poignant...Only Michael could do it the way it needed to be told. He made me wise up on tabloids very quickly!.
He was true to himself, what he believed in .... even though they tore him down for telling the truth....Yet he implemented that teaching, that brutal truth, till the end.
 
R1chard said:
Being personal can be a problem though. It means people can't associate with the song as easily. I can't relate because I don't know what it's like, therefore I don't find myself singing Tabloid Junkie to myself. Similarly, I could never stand on stage and sing that song. So those songs don't really get cover versions.
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You don't have to have experienced the same thing to be able to relate to it. People relate to Toy Story even though they have never been a toy themselves, and never experienced the actual events in the movie, but they do relate to emotional things like 'dealing with change'. The same thing goes for songs. You don't have to experience the actual events that are described in the lyrics to relate on an emotional level. Michael can sing about his frustrations with tabloids, and even though most listeners have no experience with being featured in tabloids, you can still relate to the feeling of unfair treatment, or the uncomfortable feeling of people talking about you behind your back.
 
Maxym said:
There's that all that thing that people "need to relate to" various type of creations they watch/read/listen to/play...
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Well, it certainly makes it easier to enjoy something.

Piek said:
You don't have to have experienced the same thing to be able to relate to it.
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"I don't sing it if I don't mean it".

Unlike something general like Yesterday or Summertime. It's the reason people don't cover those songs. They'll never be anything more than Michael Jackson songs. They're too personal to him.
 
R1chard said:
"I don't sing it if I don't mean it".
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I think this quote is quite overrated. It was said early in MJ's career, and I think he said himself (or so) that he didn't always understand what the lyrics were about. And as much as I like the Motown era, I think also many song from depict "unbalanced" and not necessarily good relationships. (Though I think the actual worst lyrics in MJ's career may be in Music's Takin' Over.)

Now, when he used it in HIStory, right, he had grown and there the statement takes better value.


R1chard said:
...Summertime. It's the reason people don't cover those songs.
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Wait, I thought summertime was one of the most covered songs ever.

Spaceship said:
"Billie Jean" was about all the obsessive stalkers who claimed MJ or his brothers got them pregnant
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I thought it was about specific girl who pretended she had an affair with MJ in the newspaper.

I think this song is indeed very personal to MJ, in that sense I'm a bit surprised it's his biggest success. But then, it's the kind of songs, such as Childhood that think are interesting to listen to, but wouldn't make much sense when covered by some artist (unless they're really an MJ-cover artist or such).
 
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