Michael Jackson is undoubtedly one of the most famous performers ever. Yet this fame was not always kind to Jackson. His song and music video Billie Jean are both about the unwanted attention that the talented and famous receive.

            Michael Jackson is obviously a famous and gifted individual as a singer in the real world. But this idea of being special is made even more obvious in his music video. Everything Michael touches in the video suddenly lights up or transforms. Pair this with his tendency to turn invisible throughout the video and it’s pretty obvious that Michael Jackson’s character is a particularly gifted one.

            As a ridiculously successful singer in the real world, Jackson’s fame brought him some unwanted attention from certain fans. Jackson wrote Billie Jean as a way to deny the slanderous accusations made by multiple female fans who said that he was the father of their children. Billie Jean is no specific girl, but instead is a character who personifies all of his accusers. Jackson sings that, “Billie Jean is not my lover/ she’s just a girl who claims I am the one/ but the kid is not my son.” Michael Jackson’s fame as a singer and entertainer resulted in these girls’ defamatory accusations of his irresponsibility with his fans.

            In the video, a supernaturally gifted Jackson is being followed by a detective character through what looks like a post-apocalyptic city. This man is acting the part of the paparazzi, constantly trying to get incriminating evidence of Jackson’s misdeeds. This unwanted attention involves the invasion of Jackson’s privacy as he follows him everywhere and tries (yet fails) to get a photo of Michael. This feeling of everyone trying to find evidence of him doing something wrong was most likely not a foreign one to Jackson as he was constantly followed by paparazzi, especially after all the accusations.

            Though Jackson is experiencing one of the major issues that are the result of being a celebrity, it is important to note that he outsmarts his stalker at every turn. Whenever the paparazzi figure is about to take a picture of Michael Jackson, he is able to nonchalantly disappear just in time to avoid appearing in the photo. Jackson was also able to escape claiming responsibility for any of the children that he supposedly fathered with his fans. Whether he was in the music video or real life, Jackson was able to stylishly walk away unscathed.