Michael Jackson
I posted this over on my MySpace while waiting for livejournal to finish maintenance:
He had multiple directions left for his music, if he'd wanted. A spectacular voice that he often kept puritanically spare. I'd have liked to hear him in settings by Ryan Leslie (spare meets spare) or The-Dream (spectacular meets lush and rough). Also wondered if his lyrics would say more about his consuming terror. Terror and a dazzling voice. And maybe he'd have found an interviewer to open up to; his lyrics showed insights into his torments, even if he came across as desperately naive. And of course his story will forever be shadowed by the child molestation charges, and the widespread assumption he was crazy. Maybe it was just terror, a brilliant perfectionist adrift.
(I've listed "Smooth Criminal" as the music for this post, thinking of the repeated line "Annie are you OK, are you OK Annie?" fading out as Annie fades out.)
He had multiple directions left for his music, if he'd wanted. A spectacular voice that he often kept puritanically spare. I'd have liked to hear him in settings by Ryan Leslie (spare meets spare) or The-Dream (spectacular meets lush and rough). Also wondered if his lyrics would say more about his consuming terror. Terror and a dazzling voice. And maybe he'd have found an interviewer to open up to; his lyrics showed insights into his torments, even if he came across as desperately naive. And of course his story will forever be shadowed by the child molestation charges, and the widespread assumption he was crazy. Maybe it was just terror, a brilliant perfectionist adrift.
(I've listed "Smooth Criminal" as the music for this post, thinking of the repeated line "Annie are you OK, are you OK Annie?" fading out as Annie fades out.)