Listen to Michael Jackson's music in a different light

By the time Jackson released Invincible In 2001, he had spent nearly a decade avoiding the suspicion of child badual abuse.

Evidence of his questionable behavior seemed to be numerous. a boy charged him with molestation in 1993 before settling the civil case out of court for $ 23 million.

Yet, in many ways, nothing seemed to stick to Jackson, perhaps the biggest pop star the world has ever known. Although Invincible did not realize the omnipresence of his previous work – global smashes like Thriller and Wrong, whose influence can still be heard today – the album dominated the Billboard 200 and was certified for double platinum sales.

A second charge of abuse, of which Jackson was acquitted in 2005, did not dampen enthusiasm for a series of 50 sold-out concerts that he was planning to give London from 2009.

And his shocking death that year, at the age of 50, only enhanced his appeal, as evidenced by the success of several posthumous records and shows, including a production by Cirque du Soleil. Sun on the bill as we speak at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Now, this invincibility can finally weaken.

A few weeks ago, HBO (in the US) completed its two-part broadcast of Leave Neverland, director Dan Reed's burning documentary in which two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, describe in detail the violence they said they had suffered as children at the hands of Jackson.

The singer's estate denied these accusations and firmly condemned Reed's film. It has also filed a US $ 100 million lawsuit against HBO, accusing the estate of violating a no-share agreement.

But the testimonials of Robson and Safechuck are so powerful – as horribly graphic as they are specific – that it is hard to imagine Jackson spilling out their claims as he did in the past.

Partly because they tell their stories in a language that fans can understand.

Again and again, in Leaving Neverland, men describe the experience of being close to Jackson as a kind of hypnosis; The same goes for their mothers, who shake their heads remembering to have left their sons sleeping in the same bed as an adult man whom they barely knew.

But who does not understand the idea of ​​being dazzled by Jackson's talent? As a singer, dancer and composer, he synthesized the sounds and attitudes of soul and pop to create a new American music that, even 40 years after Off The Wall, feels revolutionary.

Watching Leave NeverlandAccording to Safechuck, one of the revelations that strikes you is that of both macabre and mundane precautions that Jackson has taken on her ranch, said the singer had put up special doors and bells to conceal their interactions to anyone who could discover them.

It is not the fact of a genius from another world; it is a sign of a predator who knew the risks of his alleged crimes.

If our perception of Jackson changes, what do we do with his music?

I do not speak strictly in the moral sense of the word, even if it is certainly part of it.

In the era of streaming, when each piece on Spotify or Apple Music is worth a few cents, listeners must accept this interest, which is a radical change from the time when problematic figures could be examined (as it should be). without being slowly enriched.

But for Jackson, the question is also aesthetic: how does one hear his music outside the framework of his untouchability?

Much of Jackson's catalog is rooted in the exceptionalism of a man who, from his childhood, had become a superstarom. Father.

Try to listen to a song like Unbreakable, who challenges Invincible cut, while thinking of Jackson as a person bound by the conventional notions of good and evil. It does not mean anything; the song presupposes that the singer occupies his own moral plane.

In a way, it's the same for a much older song such as Rock with you, which shines virtually with ebullience simply out of reach for any of Jackson's peers.

The song is magical, and it's not like Jackson had a trick in his bag; the guy did dozens of melodies that seemed to stand out from the rest of the pop, including Do not stop until you have enough, I will start something ', Bat it, Billie Jean, P.Y.T. (Pretty young thing), This way that you have to make me feel, Smooth criminal and Remember time.

To hear one of them is to remind others and, therefore, the singularity of Jackson's career. And to consider his career is to recognize the scandalous margin of maneuver to which his work gave him the right in his personal life.

Leave Neverland may not prove Jackson's guilt or innocence. But that requires us to start listening to it as a man and not as an icon. – Los Angeles Times / Tribune News Service