June 2009, My family and I are moving again. Here I am, 3 years old sitting in the middle of boxes and suitcases.
In order for my mom to not lose her mind while packing, she turned on my favourite TV channel at the time: MTV
But that day wasn't just any day.
Suddenly, I saw my mom drop what she was holding and look at the TV with choc. The greatest entertainer this world will ever know was gone.
MTV was paying tribute to the man that made generations sing, dance and dream for the past four decades.
And I, the tiny baby that I was, was glued to my TV. Eyes shining, pupils dilating.
For the first time ever, I experienced the magic of Michael Jackson.
In honor of this new biopic coming out today, this is my love letter to the artist that shaped everything from the way I hear, see, and feel music all the way to my creative process.
Oh and I better see y’all moonwalk to the damn theater!
MJ was the first artist I studied. And when I say studied I mean it
This him playing me Songs in the Key of Life for the 56th time.
I grew up in a house where music was almost a religion and my dad was the preacher.
The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd…he would spend entire afternoons on YouTube giving me entire backstories before pressing play.
So by the time I was eight, I had the music taste and knowledge of a sixty-year-old.
But one thing that my dad taught me was to know who, what, when and where the music I was listening to was coming from. So one of my favourite things to do at 7 years old was to read album credits. A very classic activity for a 7-year-old.
And funny enough, Michael wasn’t an artist my dad listened to. So for the first time ever, I had to do my own digging. That’s when my very obsessive phase started (and never really ended). And my mom kept his death a secret from me. She dropped the bomb when I was 8. And I spent my entire afternoon crying.
However, I hadn’t realised his impact on me until way later, at 15 when I started being a creative myself.
We all know how he started. 8 year-old him in a band with his brothers. He was a mini James Brown with the most angelic voice you could think of.
And even though he was a literal child, he had more technique and precision than most of y'alls favourite artists.
Then he went solo. And my favorite producer of all time helped him transition.
And the holy trinity began.
First, he released Off the Wall at 20 years old. He got 3 Grammy nominations and won 1.
Guess who’s also 20 right now?
yeah…
Off The Wall is a mix of everything Michael grew up listening to and it’s usually Hip-Hop’s favourite MJ album (Jay-Z, Kanye, Kendrick…).
Then came the biggest selling album of all time, the album that doesn’t even need to be named.
12 Nominations, 8 Grammys all in one night. This one needs a love letter on its own.
And finally Bad. The first record I got when I started collecting them. My grandparents gifted me theirs, an original edition from 1987 (go ahead, be jealous).
Then came HIStory, way more personal and with A FREAKING BIGGIE FEATURE.
After these 3 back-to-back classics, Michael decided to work with other producers. So Dangerous happened with Teddy Riley, the new-jack swing king. Its cover art is something I spent hours staring at as a kid.
Finally in 2001, came Invincible, the album people love to overlook. But tbh, the vocals on that album could deadass resurrect a dead plant. Speechless was one of my night songs as a kid.
Michael Jackson was a visual architect, a fashion figure and a performer beyond human.
Because let’s be serious, before anyone cared about “art directors,” “era branding,” or “concept rollouts,” he was doing all of that decades earlier.
People think of him and they instantly see silhouettes. The glove. The loafers. The fedora. The socks. The military jackets. Sharp shoulders, cinched waist, cropped trousers, sparkle.
Thierry Mugler, Givenchy, Balmain…
This man walked so half the fashion industry could run their “archival military jacket” fantasies (that are now making a come back, lmao)
Lately I’ve seen a lot of people compare their favourite artists to MJ. Drake, Taylor, whoever…
Lets be fucking clear,
NO ONE COMPARES.
And the closest to him is Queen Bee. Period.
Michael didn't just influence the industry, he designed the blueprint every artist uses today. Producers like Kanye, Pharrell, Timbaland, Darkchild and even Tyler the Creator, all of them were at some point, shaped by MJ sonics. Cadences, vocal textures, even the first ad libs.
From Pop to Hip-Hop, Michael is THE role model.
The Weeknd, Usher. Normani, Doja, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Chris Brown, Ciara, Ne-Yo, Bruno Mars… and of course my queen, Beyoncé in her emotional delivery, all of them carry fragments of his discipline.
EVEN K-POP!
The Beatles invented modern pop music but Michael rewrote it.
Dance was optional. After him, dance became essential.
Every music video that tries to be “cinematic”.
Every pop girl giving you choreo, storytelling, a world, an era.
Every RnB track that uses breath as rhythm.
Every short film disguised as a music video.
It all comes back to him. Every single time.
Michael is the invisible architecture and foundation of the creative world I’m stepping into today.
Every time I choose a reference for a shoot, every time I build a silhouette that balances sharp and fluid, every time I watch a performance and judge it against standards that no one else can reach, that’s him.
He is the reason I care so much about visuals. About cohesion. About narrative. About intention. About the small details that 99% of people don’t even notice.
And maybe that’s the real legacy he left.
He taught me that art isn’t something you do casually.
It’s something you devote yourself to.
It’s something you study, protect, refine, and bleed for.
And I’ll carry that, that sparkle, the perfectionism, the fantasy, into every project I will ever touch.
Michael didn’t just influence a generation.
He influenced the blueprint of influence itself.
And that’s why this letter will never really end, because neither does he.
Anyways…
Michael, thank you for everything.
I know I'll never get to tell you this in person, but I needed to write it anyway…
